


My Ghosts Are Gaining On Me

by auroradawn9669



Series: Cry Little Sister [9]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angry Billy Hargrove, BAMF Steve Harrington, Billy Hargrove is a psycho in this, Broken Bones, Car Accident, Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, F/M, Gen, Hurt Max, Lucas is a great boyfriend, Mentions of Blood, Mike feels guilty, Neil Hargrove Being an Asshole, Nightmares, Not a redemption fic at all, PTSD, Past Rape/Non-con, Post Season 2, Protective Jim "Chief" Hopper, Protective Lucas Sinclair, Protective Steve Harrington, Protective everyone basically, Team Hopper and Harrington
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2019-05-25 10:34:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 30,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14975348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auroradawn9669/pseuds/auroradawn9669
Summary: There was blood. There was so much blood, Max was sure she was going to drown in it. She didn’t know if it was hers or someone else’s, just that it waseverywhereand the more she tried to get away from the steadily rising bloodbath, the more she sank down into it until only her head was above the thick, viscous liquid. She cried out as she felt someone grab onto her arm, and for one moment she thought maybe she was about to be rescued.She woke up when someone shook her hard, bruising grip on her forearm.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> More tags to come as we go along, but so far this is what we've got. If I've missed something you think might be triggery and need a warning please let me know!

It was in the pre-dawn hours when she set foot in Hawkins, Indiana, for only the second time that she could remember. The first had been nearly a year ago, shortly after Jane had sought her out. She hadn’t actually made contact with the younger girl that time, but this time she fully intended to. It had been too long. 

What Kali _hadn’t_ intended on was coming across a car on the outskirts of town that had been rammed head on into a tree, steam pouring from the engine. She was tempted to simply call 911 from the nearest pay phone and continue on her way to find her sister. But something nagged at her to go back, to check on the person or persons inside in the camaro. 

Glass and bits of metal littered the ground as she made her way carefully to the passenger side of the car, peering into the broken window. There was a young red-headed girl slumped inside, head resting against the doorframe, blood streaked down her face. Her eyes were closed. Looking past the girl, she saw a boy about her own age slumped against the steering wheel, unconscious, but still breathing. 

She focused on the girl once more - she was probably Jane’s age, which was why her attention settled on her for the time being. 

“Can you hear me?” She reached in through the open window and pressed her fingers against the girl’s throat. Thankfully she had a pulse. A soft moan escaped the redhead and Kali took that as a good sign. “Open your eyes,” she said firmly, careful not to jostle or move her at all in case there were broken bones. And given the state of the car, she was pretty sure there would be. 

“Please.” The girl’s voice was barely audible. “Gun.” 

Kali paused at that, frowning deeply at the word as she tried to make sense of what the girl was trying to say. “Can you tell me your name?” 

There was a long moment of silence and Kali was sure that she’d slipped back into unconsciousness even as the wail of sirens rang in the distance. “Max,” she murmured. 

“All right, Max.” She smiled even though the other girl’s eyes were closed and she couldn’t see her. “I’m Kali. You’re going to be okay.” 

“Gun,” she whispered again, and her eyelids fluttered open briefly. “He has a gun.” 

Kali’s gaze shifted to the boy beside her, eyes growing dark. The girl was clearly scared and she briefly wondered if she’d been kidnapped. A precursory glance around the car showed her no signs of a weapon, but it was probably thrown when they crashed. She looked at Max once more. “It’s okay. You’re safe. He won’t hurt you now.” A couple of tears slid down the girl’s pale face and Kali straightened when the ambulance, fire truck and a police car pulled up behind the camaro and her beaten up jeep.  
“Ma’am, are you hurt?” one of the paramedics called as he gathered things from the back of the ambulance. 

“No. I called in the accident,” she said, gaze flickering to Max momentarily. Her eyes had gone closed again. “Stay awake, Max,” she ordered. 

“Lucas,” the younger girl whispered. 

Kali cocked her head at the name, but stepped away reluctantly as the professionals approached. “The girl’s half-conscious. She said her name was Max,” she informed them. 

“ _Fuck_ ,” the officer whispered, his eyes growing wide with horror as he took a look at the remains of the car. “Oh _fuck._ ” He seemed to be in a state of shock, face pale as he stood stock still like he was frozen in place. It dawned on her then: he must either know the person that the car belonged to, or Max. Possibly both. 

Kali pressed her lips together and then strode toward him as the firemen and paramedics worked on the car and getting the redhead and the other guy out. “Pull yourself together. You have a job to do,” she told him matter-of-factly. 

Her words seemed to pull him back to reality and he blinked a couple of times, staring at her. “Who are you?” 

“Just a bystander,” she told him, studying his face intently. He was good looking in a very _Teen Magazine_ cover boy kind of way. She wasn’t even sure he was old enough to be a real cop, but he was wearing a uniform.

“Right,” he muttered, gaze darting back to where the firemen were forcing open the passenger door of the car. “Did you see what happened?” 

“No. I got here after they wrecked. But I spoke with the girl, and she sounded very frightened and mentioned that the man in the car has a gun,” she told him. It was probably the only time she’d ever volunteered information to the police in her entire life. Still. This time it wasn’t about her. And something told her that the officer in front of her was going to want justice done as badly as she already did and she wasn’t even sure what happened.

“She said Billy has a _gun?_ Jesus Christ,” he swore, moving around her and heading toward the camaro as the paramedics got a gurney out of the ambulance, the firemen carefully extricating the girl from inside of it. Even from where she stood, Kali heard her whimper as they moved her.

“Her vitals are strong,” one of the paramedics commented as Kali watched the officer hover near the stretcher they’d loaded her on. “Let’s load her in. Call for another bus.”  
His partner immediately got on the radio, requesting a second ambulance due to multiple victims. Kali moved toward the girl on the gurney, and the officer who looked more than a little upset. He definitely knew the kid, she decided. 

“She’ll be okay,” she said as she stood at his side while the paramedics loaded the redhead into the back of the ambulance. 

“She has to be,” he murmured.

***

The call itself hadn’t initially concerned Steve. Hawkins was a large enough town that even he didn’t know everyone in it. And in his head, all of the people he cared about were at home in their beds asleep. It wasn’t until he arrived on the scene and saw the familiar camaro - now smashed all to hell - that he quickly realized he was wrong. 

Why the hell were Max and Billy out at 2:30 in the morning _anyway?_ he wondered as he drove white-knuckled all the way to the hospital. And why the hell would Billy have a _gun?_ If there was one person in the entire town that had no business with any kind of deadly weapon, it was Billy Hargrove. 

Immediately his mind went to the fact that Tommy was missing, that Billy was the last one to see him alive. Had he done something Tommy? Had Max found out? Was he planning to kill her too? Make sure she couldn’t tell? 

His mind raced with thoughts as he scrambled out of the squad car and made his way into the hospital, following behind the paramedics who were wheeling Max inside. He knew he’d broken protocol in a lot of ways by coming with Max rather than staying on the scene until Hopper showed up, but he was pretty sure once the chief heard what happened, he was going to understand. Hell, he might have done the same thing in Steve’s shoes.

Regardless, he wasn’t very worried about the possible consequences of breaking protocol. He was worried about _Max._ “Is she awake?” 

“In and out. Probably got a concussion,” Walters told him. “Probably gonna have to wait to get a statement about what happened.” 

“I don’t care about _that_ ,” Steve snapped, then paused at the odd look the other man gave him. “I know this kid. She’s like my little sister.” 

Walters nodded this time with understanding. “Her vitals are strong. She may have some broken bones but there’s no sign of anything more serious.” 

Broken bones are pretty fucking serious, he wanted to say, but didn’t, because he understood the man’s meaning. She was going to live. Thank _god_. But she was definitely hurt, and that made him feel sick to his stomach. “And Billy?”

“That his name? Hasn’t been awake so far,” Walters told him as they wheeled Max into an exam room, doctors and nurses immediately moving to take over for him and his partner. 

Steve nodded at that, keeping his eyes on Max’s still form until one of the nurses ushered him out of the room, telling him he’d have to wait outside unless he was family. He almost argued that family didn’t start or stop with blood. Instead, he let her lead him out of the room and he began to pace the floor as he waited. 

***

Dawn was still a couple hours off when Hopper set foot on the accident scene. He’d already had an update from one of his deputies - both Max and Billy were alive but in serious condition and Billy hadn’t regained consciousness. 

He made his way to the driver’s side of the car, grimacing at the twisted, ripped open metal from where the fire department had to use the jaws of life to get Hargrove out. The passenger side had faired better although the windshield and both front windows had been shattered. Glass littered the ground all around the shredded camaro. 

What the hell had happened? Why the hell were the two of them out so early in the morning? 

He wanted answers, and he wanted them _now_. He flipped on his flashlight and peered into the inside of the car, jaw tightening at the sight of bloodstains on the interior. Still, nothing seemed out of place as far as he could tell. No signs of beer cans or bottles, though that didn’t rule out Billy possibly drinking before he’d gotten behind the wheel. 

He shifted so he could look into the back, pausing when he saw a backpack wedged behind the driver’s seat. He reached back and grabbed hold of it, managing to fenegle it out. He crouched down on the ground, unzipping it and looking through the contents. Clothes. Max’s, specifically. A couple of pictures with her and the other kids. Money. Granola bars. A bottled water. 

His eyebrows knitted together as he rocked back on his heels before zipping the bag up once more. Had she been running away? Had they _both_ been running away? And if so, where was Billy’s bag? 

Something wasn’t adding up. He left the bag on the ground and rose to his feet, moving around toward the front of the camaro, shining the flashlight on the tree and then the front of the car. Nothing caught his eye until he saw a glint of metal partially buried beneath one of the broken tree branches on the ground. Crouching again, he reached out and picked up the object, sucking in a surprised breath. 

A gun.

***

Max woke up, pain shooting through her ribs and her head simultaneously as she opened her eyes. The lights above her were too harsh and she squeezed her eyes shut once more, a whimper escaping her. 

“Easy. Easy, don’t try and move,” a voice from beside her said and distantly she recognized it, but right now she was trying her hardest not to throw up. 

“Lucas,” she mumbled. Lucas was in danger, even if she couldn’t remember why, exactly. 

“Shh,” the voice whispered, and she felt a gentle pressure on her arm. The weight of a hand. “Try and relax. They gave you a lot of drugs and your mom’s on her way.” 

Her eyebrows furrowed at that. Why would her mom be on her way? What the hell was going on? Slowly she opened her eyes once more, vision blurry as she found herself staring at Steve’s worried face. “Steve?”

“Yeah, it’s me. You’re gonna be okay. You’re pretty banged up, but nothing life-threatening.” 

She stared at him bleary-eyed, confusion clear on her face. 

“You were in a car accident, remember? With Billy?” His voice was hesitant, like he wasn’t sure she _would_ remember..

Car accident. With Billy. She remembered then: sneaking out her window to head for the bus station, Billy finding her, nearly hitting her with his car as she tumbled off her skateboard, Billy smashing her head into the window and waking up in the passenger seat as he ranted and raved about killing the Sinclair’s. Grabbing the wheel and forcing them to crash into a tree.

“Billy,” she whispered urgently, heart starting to beat more quickly in her chest. “Where is he?” 

“Down the hall in another room. He hasn’t woken up yet,” Steve explained, watching her intently. 

“He’s okay?” 

Steve seemed to hesitate for a moment. “I haven’t checked in about him recently,” he admitted. 

He would kill her. He would kill her, he’d kill the Sinclairs, and who knew who else? Steve, maybe? The rest of her friends? 

“Max? Can you tell me what happened? Do you know why Billy hit that tree?” 

What would happen if she told Steve? What would Neil do to her if she got Billy arrested and locked away? What would he do to her _mom?_ Her head spun with all the horrible possibilities. 

He seemed to pick up on her rapidly growing anxiety because he leaned in closer, voice dropping. “Max, I don’t know what happened, but I swear to you, you can trust me. I’ll keep you safe.” 

Why couldn’t she have had Steve for a brother instead of Billy? She wondered bitterly, a tear trickling down her cheek. None of this ever would have happened. Steve wouldn’t have hurt her the way Billy had. He wouldn’t have threatened Lucas’ life and the lives of his entire family. She wouldn’t be lying in a hospital bed because she’d crashed his car to keep him from hurting people she loved. 

Steve drew in a deep breath, exhaling slowly at her silence. “Okay. Okay, we’ll talk about it later. You should probably just rest right now.” 

He sounded disappointed. It was the way everyone sounded when they talked to her anymore. She shifted slightly, turning onto her side, away from him and facing the window as another tear rolled down her cheek. She buried her face against her pillow as the pain and the fear and a thousand other emotions she couldn’t identify began to overwhelm her. 

Max cried herself back to sleep. 

***

Eleven had the strange feeling that someone was watching her as she rode her bike to school that morning. Normally Hopper drove her and picked her up, but he’d been called out in the middle of the night on an emergency. Once she was sure it had nothing to do with the Upside Down, or demogorgons or the bad men, she’d fallen back into a fitful sleep until her alarm had gone off signaling that it was time to get up and get ready for the day. She was kind of excited about getting to ride to school for a change, but the whole way there it felt like someone was following her even though there was no one behind her every time she looked. 

She met Mike and her other friends at the bike rack, frowning at the worried look on Lucas’ face when Max didn’t show up the way she always did. 

“Something’s wrong,” he said, but he didn’t look at any of them and she watched the way Will’s eyes narrowed at the statement. “She should have been here by now.” The look that passed between Dustin and Mike didn’t go unnoticed either, and there was a weight to it that she wasn’t sure she understood even as she reached for Mike’s hand and he squeezed it gently. 

“If she’s not here by second period, we’ll meet and figure out what’s going on,” Mike said, glancing around at all of them. 

“Billy’s not here either,” Will said after a moment, gaze darting toward the parking lot before looking back at the rest of them. 

“Let’s not jump to any conclusions. It could be anything. You said Max was sick with the flu over the weekend, right, Lucas?” 

Lucas pressed his lips together and gave a short nod. “That’s what she said.” 

“That shit spreads like wildfire. Maybe she wasn’t really totally over it and maybe the douchebag has it now too.” 

“Maybe.” Eleven could tell by Lucas’ tone that he didn’t really believe it. Truthfully neither did she. 

“An hour. We’ll give it an hour,” Mike stressed. “And then we’ll reconvene and figure out what’s going on.” 

Lucas gave another reluctant nod before heading away from them wordlessly, shoulders tense as he made his way into the school and leaving the rest of them standing there together. 

***

Steve was on his fifth cup of terrible hospital coffee, hovering outside Max’s hospital room where she was unconscious thanks to the aid of painkillers while her mom sat with her, when Hopper finally arrived. There was a grim expression on the older man’s face as he approached, cup of coffee in his own hand. 

“How is she?” 

“Sleeping. Couple of broken ribs and a concussion,” he reported, nerves on edge. “Her mom’s in there with her now.” 

Hopper nodded, glancing at the room momentarily and then looking back at Steve. “And Hargrove?” 

“Down the hall. Still unconscious. Vitals stable. Concussion, lots of cuts and bruises, broken arm. His dad’s in with him.” He kept to the facts as much as he wanted to voice his growing suspicions. Hopper wouldn’t like blind theories without any evidence backing them up. He’d learned that early on when he’d joined the department. 

Still, he studied Hopper, who looked more than a little troubled. “I found some things at the accident site,” he began and unconsciously Steve shifted closer to him. “A backpack full of money and clothes, a couple pictures. Her stuff.” He nodded toward Max’s room and Steve found himself holding his breath. “And there was a gun. Loaded.” 

All the air left his lungs. “There was a witness on the scene. The girl who called 911 to report the accident. She said Max mentioned a gun but she was in and out of it.” 

“Looks like she wasn’t so out of it,” he said grimly, meeting Steve’s gaze. “You think she was running?” 

“I don’t know,” he admitted, voice dropping. “She spent the night at my place last week. I figured Billy and his dad were fighting and she just wanted to get away for awhile.” 

Hopper took a sip of his coffee, expression unreadable. “Something ain’t adding up here.” 

“Yeah, I --” 

Before Steve had a chance to finish his sentence, they were approached by one of the doctors. The woman extended her hand toward Hopper. “I’m Dr. Gillis,” she said, shaking his hand. “I’d like to speak with the two of you in private.” 

“Of course.” Steve followed Dr. Gillis and Hopper down the hall to a small office, closing the door behind them. 

“It’s about the crash victims that were brought in this morning,” she began, sitting down in her chair and resting her arms on her desk as the two of them sat down across from her. “I must express my concerns about old injuries I discovered on both Maxine and Billy.” 

“Old injuries?” Steve echoed, feeling his stomach tighten into a knot. 

“What kind of injuries?” Hopper questioned, setting his coffee down on the desk and sitting up a little straighter. 

“They both had a number of welts and bruises on their backs. Healing, but still visible.” Her jaw tightened slightly. “There were also scars on Maxine that appear to be old burn marks.” 

“ _What?_ ” All the air left his lungs.  
“Given the size and shape, I suspect the marks are from a cigarette.” 

Hopper’s jaw tightened now, too. “Are you saying someone’s been deliberately harming them?” His voice had a hard edge to it. 

“In my professional opinion, it certainly seems that way,” she confirmed. “I trust the two of you will take things from here.” 

“We will,” Hopper bit out, rising to his feet again, and grabbing his coffee cup before heading toward the door. 

Steve mumbled a thanks to the doctor before following the chief out into the hallway, feeling nauseated and dizzy with the new, horrifying information. He was still dazed when Hopper turned to face him, eyes dark with barely contained anger.

“Guess we know why they were running away.” 

“What do we do from here?” Steve asked quietly as he and Hopper stood outside Billy’s hospital room where Neil Hargrove sat at his unconscious son’s bedside. 

“Call down to the station and get Rogers in here. We’ll need to interview the kids separately once they’re both awake and cognizant, but given what Dr. Gillis told us, we’ve got enough to arrest and hold him for twenty-four hours at the least.” Hopper pitched his empty styrofoam cup in a wastebasket. 

“Let me be the one to talk to Max,” he requested, even though he knew doing so would be skirting a lot of ethical boundaries. “I think I can get her to open up to me about what’s been going on.” 

“You know that’s a conflict of interest, right?” 

Steve shrugged a shoulder, keeping his gaze steady on the chief, who sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. 

“Fine. You talk to her first, I’ll do Hargrove’s interview. Rogers can haul Hargrove Sr. to lockup and get him out of my sight.” 

Steve was just fine with that considering there was no way in hell Billy would open up to him about Neil Hargrove’s abuse anyway. He doubted he’d talk to anyone about it, really. He gave a quick nod. “What about Mrs. Hargrove?” 

“I’ll talk to her. See what she has to say, go from there before…” He hesitated, glancing at Steve, who frowned. 

“Before what?” His eyebrows furrowed. 

“Before I decide whether child protective services needs to get involved and find a safe place for the kids to stay once they’re out of here.” 

All the air escaped Steve’s lungs and he shook his head. “Hopper, you can’t send Max into foster care.” 

“You think I _want_ to?” He glared at Steve. “If there’s abuse in the family and her mom’s been a part of it or isn’t willing to leave the situation if we can’t keep Hargrove locked up long-term, we don’t have another option.” 

“Yeah we do. She can stay with me,” he said quickly, shaking his head again. 

“No court system is gonna grant you custody of a fourteen year old, Steve. You’re barely an adult yourself.” Even as Hopper said those words, Steve knew he was probably right.

“Maybe we could work something out through civil court. With her mom,” he tried. 

“We’ll talk about options when we get there. Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves yet. Call Rogers and get him down here, then go talk to Max. I’ll keep an eye on Hargrove Sr. to make sure he doesn’t vanish before we can lock his ass up.” He motioned to the hospital room behind them with a thumb over his shoulder.

Steve forced himself to take a deep breath, nodding before making his way to a quiet place to radio for Rogers. 

Shit. Shit shit _shit._

***

No one had seen or heard from Max or Billy by the time the party met up after first period in the hall at Max’s locker. Mike didn’t give a shit about Billy. As far as he was concerned the guy could fall off a cliff and drown at the quarry and the world would be better off. Max was another story. They hadn’t been getting along that well lately, but Mike knew that was mostly his fault. And if the expression on Lucas’ face was anything to go by, there was more to what was going on with Max than he even realized. 

“She told me her stepdad punished her for the incident with Troy,” he admitted quietly as they moved toward the nearest empty classroom. 

“Punished her?” El echoed as she followed them and Mike reached out for her hand, sliding his fingers through hers. 

“She didn’t give details. Just said it was punishment,” Lucas said bitterly as he turned to face them. “She said it doesn’t happen often.” 

Will’s face had drained of color and Mike shifted closer to him so they were standing together, because he knew exactly what his friend was thinking about. His own dad had been a worthless bastard that liked to hurt his kids any way that he could anytime he got drunk. 

“Do you think she was telling the truth?” Dustin asked. 

“I don’t know. She’s been hard to read lately,” he admitted, folding his arms across his chest as he leaned against the wall. 

“And angry all the time,” Dustin added. 

“I can find her,” Eleven spoke up, voice quiet as she glanced around at all of them, her grip tightening on Mike’s hand. 

The four boys went silent at the suggestion and Mike looked at Lucas, holding his breath. Finally Lucas nodded in agreement. 

“I need a blindfold,” she said as she let go of Mike and moved to sit down at one of the desks. Wordlessly Mike unzipped his jacket and held it out to her as he sat beside her, scooting the desk closer. 

“I’ll get some kleenex for her nosebleed,” Dustin volunteered, heading for the teacher’s desk. 

“I’ll watch the door,” Will offered, moving toward it. 

Mike rested a hand on Eleven’s back as she carefully wrapped his jacket around her head, sleeves around her eyes. 

“Just find her,” Lucas whispered. “Please, El.” 

“I will.” There was determination in her voice. 

Mike never had any doubt.

***

She woke up to the feel of someone stroking her hair and it pulled her farther out of her state of comfortable unconsciousness against her will, causing a soft whimper to escape her. 

“Mommy’s here,” her mother whispered and Max relaxed without opening her eyes at the reassurance that it was just her mom. “Oh sweetheart. What on earth _happened?_ What were the two of you doing out so late?” 

Max drew in a slow breath but didn’t open her eyes or answer. There was no way to answer that question that wouldn’t cause more trouble. Her mom wouldn’t protect her. Neil definitely wouldn’t. They wouldn’t even believe her and if they did, there was no doubt in her mind that they would blame her for all of it. “Is Billy okay?” she whispered instead. 

There was a moment of silence. “He has a bad concussion. He hasn’t woken up yet.” Her smile was tight, pained. 

That was it, then. Billy was alive, and it was only a matter of time before he retaliated for her wrecking his car, for trying to escape. And with horrible dread, she was sure this time he really would go after Lucas and his family. He’d do it to teach her the ultimate lesson in pain. 

Unless she did something to stop him. 

She drew in a slow, shaky breath, pressing a hand to her sore rib cage even as tears filled her unopened eyes. 

“Maxie? Are you in more pain? I should go get a nurse,” her mom said nervously. 

“Okay,” she murmured, nodding. She had to talk to Steve. To Hopper. She couldn’t wait for the letters she’d mailed to get to them. Not if Billy was already awake. 

“I’ll be back,” her mom said, and she listened as her footsteps retreated toward the door. Steeling herself against the pain, Max braced her hands on the mattress and slowly struggled to sit up, head spinning at the movement. 

“Whoa! Whoa, what the hell are you doing?” 

She barely had a chance to look up before Steve was suddenly at her side, shaking his head with wide eyes. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked up at him, a pained gasp escaping her lips as she sank back against the pillows once more. “Billy,” she whispered, voice strained. 

“He’s still unconsci--,” Steve started to say, but she cut him off before she lost her nerve. This was it. It was the only real option she had if she wanted to make sure Lucas and the Sinclairs stayed safe. Billy would wake up any time because that was her goddamn luck, and when he did, her luck and everyone else’s would run out entirely.

“Billy killed Tommy.” 

***

To say he wasn’t anticipating _that_ being the first thing to come out of her mouth when he went to see her again would be an understatement. For a long moment, Steve simply stared at the redhead as she confirmed his own suspicions. “You know that for a fact?” he asked, voice quiet as he glanced over his shoulder at the door. 

“He told me,” she whispered, pain flickering across her face. 

His heart was beating hard and fast in his chest and he swallowed hard, trying his best to compartmentalize; to not think about all the time he and Tommy had spent together growing up. That his once friend was dead. Murdered. Because Max wouldn’t lie. Not about something like this. The fear in her eyes was real. “Did he kidnap you last night? Because you knew?” 

“No,” she mumbled, and he took in the way her hands were shaking against the thin blanket covering her up. 

Steve had a hell of a lot of questions, but right then he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and resting a hand over one of hers, steadying it. “It’s gonna be okay,” he said quietly. “We’ll get him, Max. I promise.” 

She nodded mutely and he could tell she was struggling not to cry. 

“I gotta go find Hopper,” Steve told her. “But I’ll be back, okay?” He squeezed her hand before turning and heading toward the door. 

“Steve.” 

He turned to look back at her when she called out, one hand pressed against her stomach, and his own stomach clenched. “Yeah?” 

“Keep Lucas safe.” 

Eyebrows furrowing, he nodded slightly. “Of course.” He had no idea how Lucas played into all of this, but he’d take the warning seriously. Giving her one more look of concern, Steve headed out of the room to find Hopper. 

***  
Hopper’s mood had taken a nosedive by the time Rogers arrived at the hospital that morning. He was nursing his third cup of coffee already, still waiting outside Billy Hargrove’s hospital room to make sure Neil Hargrove didn’t take off. He’d arrest him himself if he had to, but he didn’t want to leave the facility until he had spoken with both Max and Billy personally. He wanted an airtight case against this asshole. 

“Chief,” Rogers greeted as he approached. 

“Took you long enough,” he said gruffly, shooting him a look. Rogers at least had the decency to look chastened. 

“What’s going on? Harrington didn’t give me any details.” 

He grunted, taking another drink of his coffee. “Child abuse case. Neil Hargrove. He’s inside with his teenage son Billy. Billy and Max Mayfield were the ones in that wreck this morning.” 

Rogers frowned. “Max Mayfield? That redhead that comes by the station to see Harrington sometimes?” 

“That’s the one. She’s down the hall with broken ribs and a concussion. Billy hasn’t woke up yet. We’re gonna go in, arrest Neil Hargrove and you’re gonna toss him into lockup.” 

“Okay. I’ll follow your lead, Chief.” Rogers nodded and Hopper pushed open the door to Billy’s hospital room. The boy lay motionless in bed while the older Hargrove sat beside him, reading the day’s newspaper. Susan Hargrove sat on the other side of the boy’s bed, holding one of his hands. 

She looked up when they entered the room. “Chief, Deputy. What can we do for you?” 

Neil looked up, as well, eyes narrowing. 

“Afraid I have some bad news for you. Neil, I heard some disturbing news about old injuries that were found on your son and step-daughter when the doctor examined them this morning.” 

He watched the color drain from Susan Hargrove’s face when she looked down and his jaw tightened. So she knew. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Old injuries?” Neil glared at him. 

“Sure you don’t,” he said coldly. “Stand up, Mr. Hargrove. You’re under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and _will_ be used against you in a court of law, I promise.” He finished reading the man his rights even as Rogers put the handcuffs on him. 

“There’s been a mistake,” he growled as Rogers pushed him toward the door. 

“Shut your mouth,” Rogers ordered. 

Hopper turned his attention to Susan Hargrove, who now had tears in her eyes as she looked up at him. “Has he put his hands on you, too?” 

“ _No._ Never,” she said quickly, shaking her head as she rose to her feet. “You don’t understand.” 

“Oh, I think I do,” Hopper said bitterly. He shook his head, too, and headed out the door, only to be intercepted by Steve, whose eyes were wide. “Now what?” he grumbled. 

“I need to talk to you in private right _now_ ,” Steve said urgently, grabbing his arm and tugging him out into the hallway. “Max just told me Billy confessed to killing Tommy.” 

Hopper froze in his tracks at that, staring at the deputy. “ _What?_ ” 

“She said Billy told her that he killed Tommy.” 

“Why the hell would he kill Tommy?” 

“Hell if I know. She’s still in and out of it, but she’s scared, Chief. And this kid? She doesn’t get scared by much.” 

Hopper turned his head to watch Rogers escorting Neil Hargrove out of sight, followed by his doting wife and shook his head. “Shit.” He exhaled. “I’m gonna have to talk to Max. Go down to the courthouse and get a search warrant for the Hargrove house.” 

“That’ll take awhile. Can I go by Tommy’s house again? Just in case we missed something there. While I’m waiting.” 

He considered for a moment, then nodded. “Radio me as soon as you hear anything.”

Christ. He wondered what else this day was going to reveal. Fucking full moons.

***

Not for the first time that day, Eleven found herself looking over her shoulder as she and the rest of the party made their way into the entrance of the hospital, and like all the other times, she didn’t see anyone following her. She looked around warily before following her friends, watching as Lucas rushed up to the desk. 

“Max Mayfield! Where is she?” he asked, voice and expression riddled with anxiety. 

Will was right beside him. “She’s my sister,” he lied and Eleven’s frown deepened as she turned her head to look at Mike. 

“They won’t let anyone around who isn’t family,” Mike explained in a whisper. 

“ _Oh._ ” She turned her attention to the lady behind the desk who was studying all five of them with skepticism. 

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait,” she said, nodding to the waiting room. 

“Tell us where she is!” Dustin ordered, banging a fist on the desk and causing all of them to jump. 

“Young _man_ , I don’t know who you think you are but -” 

“It’s fine, Marge.” 

Eleven swallowed hard at the familiar voice and turned her head to see Hopper standing a few feet away, arms folded across his chest as he pinned her with a stare. She lifted her chin, meeting his eyes and pulling her hand away from Mike’s to mimic his stance. 

The boys looked between them for a moment. 

“Chief, where is she?” Lucas pleaded and Hop shifted his gaze to the boy, heaving a sigh. 

“Follow me,” he responded, turning and heading down the hallway. Lucas matched his pace while the rest of them fell behind but kept close enough that they didn’t lose track of where they were going. 

“Is she okay? Is she --” 

“She’s awake,” he told them. “Broken ribs and a concussion, some cuts and bruises. She’ll be all right, she just needs time to heal.” 

“Broken ribs?” Will echoed, looking horrified. 

“She’ll be okay,” Eleven echoed, tone confident even though she hadn’t seen Max yet. Hopper wouldn’t lie about this. 

“Do I even want to know how you found out about the accident?” Hopper gave her a look and she gave one right back to him, but remained silent. He sighed. “Yeah. Figured as much.” He stopped outside of a room. “One at a time. Try not to overwhelm her, and keep your voices down. If her mom asks you to leave, respect that. _All_ of you,” he warned. 

Eleven watched as Lucas moved around him and darted into the room without looking back at any of them. 

***

Lucas was surprised to discover that Max was alone in the room when he stepped inside. He’d fully expected to see her mom there at her bedside, but there was no one else around. Instead, Max lay in the hospital bed curled up on her side faced away from the door, looking smaller and more vulnerable than he’d ever seen her and he felt his stomach twist into a knot. 

“Max?” he whispered, taking a couple steps forward, but the redhead didn’t move. Not wanting to wake her, he simply moved around the bed, intending to sit in the recliner beside her, but when he saw the huge gash on her head, red and angry and swollen, all the air felt like it was sucked from his lungs. Her eyes were closed, breathing steady and even. His gaze followed the IV line from her hand to the machine that lurked behind and above her, medicine and fluids dripping slowly into her veins. 

Lucas eased himself down onto the edge of the recliner seat, heavy feeling settling into his chest as he watched her sleep. Her skin was still so pale that it made the bruises and cuts stand out even more. He reached out and gently pulled the light blanket up and over her a little more. She was always cold when she slept, had never really adjusted to the climate in Indiana compared to California. 

She stirred at the faint movement, eyebrows furrowing even though she didn’t open her eyes. “Lucas,” she murmured, almost inaudibly and he held his breath, reaching out and covering one of her hands with his own. 

“I’m here,” he whispered. “It’s okay.” He dragged the recliner as close to the bed as he could, watching as her eyelashes fluttered and then her eyes opened. “Hey.” 

“Hi.” Her voice was hoarse, faint. 

“How are you feeling?” he asked, keeping his gaze locked on her. 

“Been better,” she joked, but almost instantly the smile slipped off her face, tears forming in her blue eyes and for the first time since he’d met her, he couldn’t shake the horrible, sinking feeling that she was broken. Broken and beaten down in ways that Lucas didn’t understand and didn’t even know how to ask about.

“ _Max,_ ” he whispered back, his own eyes tearing up. “What happened?” 

It took her a moment to respond and when a tear trickled down her face, she didn’t reach up to brush it away and that’s when he knew just how bad things were. She didn’t even feel well enough to try and hide her tears. “I was trying to get away,” she murmured, closing her eyes. “He caught up with me. We crashed.” 

His eyebrows furrowed. “Who? Your stepdad? Billy?” he asked uncertainly, trying to put the pieces together. 

“Billy.” 

Lucas was silent for a moment, gaze flickering toward the door where the others were waiting to come and see her, to see with their own eyes that she was alive and okay. She was alive, but she wasn’t okay. Not by any means. “Okay,” he whispered. “The others are here. Just outside, but Hopper said we could only see you one at a time.” 

Her fingers curled around his wrist. “You have to stay away from Billy,” she whispered, eyes opening and focusing on him intently. That gave him pause. 

“I wasn’t planning to go check on him or anything,” he told her, trying to reassure her the best he could. 

“Promise me.” The urgency in her tone was eery and Lucas found himself nodding.

“Max, of course. I’m not going anywhere near him. I promise.” He wasn’t sure why she was so adamant about this, but it made him uneasy. He was missing something, something _big_. He didn’t want to ask too many questions when she was already clearly in pain and upset and maybe even a little out of it. He didn’t want to overwhelm her. 

“Stay with Hopper or Steve,” she murmured, eyelids slowly drooping until her eyes had closed again once more, sleep sweeping her up in its arms as Lucas stared at her, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. 

***

Needless to say, considering the circumstances, Kali wasn’t fond of hospitals. She was sure that was true for most people, but somehow she felt like she had more reason to hate them than most did. She was surprised that Jane didn’t seem particularly bothered as she watched her from a distance, down the hall as her sister sat in the emergency room waiting area with several boys. Her friends. The people she’d left Kali for all those months ago in Chicago. 

She wanted to be bitter, but she wasn’t. Jane could have stayed with her, but Kali knew she also could have gone with Jane and stayed in Hawkins. She hadn’t because she’d had business to finish. She had friends of her own who needed her, counted on her. She had no plans to stay this time, either, but she was at least going to spend a few days here. Make sure Jane was really okay. Check out these people that she called friends. Meet this policeman that had taken her in. Figure out why she was hanging around the hospital.

She watched as Jane rose to her feet and headed for the vending area. Now was her chance. She followed her, leaning against the wall casually as Jane inserted some coins into the machine and pressed a button for a drink. “Jane.” 

The girl started, eyes going wide when she turned her head to look at Kali. And then a bright smile spread across her face, bright enough that Kali couldn’t help smiling back at her. She met her halfway for a hug. 

“Kali! What are you doing here?” 

“Checking on my sister,” she answered, pulling away to look at her. She looked much like she had the first time Kali had met her, but her hair was longer now, down to her shoulders, but still curly. She wasn’t wearing a speck of makeup. They couldn’t have looked more different had they been trying. Then again they weren’t blood-related. 

Kali had learned long ago things like blood only mattered so much. 

“You’ve been following me all day,” Jane accused. 

“You felt me,” she acknowledged, nodding. “I wanted to see what your life here was like before I told you I was here.” She cocked her head to the side. “Why are you here at the hospital? Is your policeman ill?” 

Jane shook her head. “My friend Max.” 

Well that was a strange twist of fate. How many Max’s Jane’s age could there be in Hawkins? “Was she in a car accident this morning?” 

“Yes,” she confirmed. “How did you know?” 

“I found the car after it crashed and called 911.” Kali studied her. “Are you and Max close?” 

This time Jane hesitated, dropped her gaze and shook her head. “No. Not really.” 

“I see.” She wondered why but didn’t ask. Not yet. There would be time for that later. “Introduce me to the rest of your friends?”  
That smile was back, brighter now than before. “Okay!” 

Kali didn’t regret coming. 

***

Steve knew that Elaine Hudson wasn’t expecting to see him that morning, and he couldn’t blame her for that. Looking at her made his chest hurt. He believed Max when she said that Billy had killed Tommy. He didn’t have any doubt about that. But he also didn’t want to spring that on Tommy’s mother until he could find Tommy’s body - if that was even possible - and give her closure.

“Steve? How can I help you?” she asked, sounding hopeful in a way that made his heart hurt. 

“I was hoping I could look through Tommy’s room again. Just in case I missed something.” 

“I take it there isn’t any news then?” Her shoulders dropped as she stepped aside to let him in. 

“No. I’m afraid not. Not yet,” he said quietly. 

“Well...you can go on down. You know the way.” She gave him a tired smile. “Would you like some coffee? Or some breakfast?” 

“No, thank you. I already had both.” He managed to return her small smile with one of his own before he headed down the hall, and took the staircase to the basement, heading into his old friend’s room and flipping the light on. Like last time, nothing had been touched. He was pretty sure Mrs. Hudson hadn’t set foot in there since the last time Steve had been to the house. 

Why would Billy kill Tommy? There had to be a reason. Billy might be a psychopath, but even psychopaths had motives, right? 

He stood still for a long time, simply staring at Tommy’s things. Nothing stood out. 

Except that green jacket on the back of his desk chair. He searched his memory, trying to come up with a time he’d ever seen Tommy wear it, but he came up entirely blank. He crossed the room slowly, picking it up. It took him a moment to realize it wasn’t exactly a jacket. It was a zip-up hoodie. And he _had_ seen it before, or one just like it. 

Dread sank into the pit of his stomach as he fumbled with the hoodie, stared momentarily at the tag. Girls size 8. It wasn’t Tommy’s at all. It was _Max’s_. Why the hell was it in Tommy’s room? Why the hell would Tommy have Max’s hoodie? 

He tossed it onto Tommy’s bed, then stared at what had been lying _beneath_ the jacket. A pair of black underpants. Definitely not Tommy’s. Swallowing back the growing urge to vomit, Steve stared at them for a moment before his gaze traveled to Tommy’s VHS collection. Jaw tightening, he moved over to it, carefully pulling legitimate movies off the shelf to reveal Tommy’s _hidden_ collection. Labeled with initials and dates. 

Most of them were labeled with Carol’s initials, but there were others, from whenever the two of them get into a big fight and break up for awhile. It had been a pattern Tommy had for years now. He scanned the initials and dates on the tapes until it landed on the most recent one in the collection. 4/17/86. M.M. 

“Oh God. What did you do, Tommy?” he whispered, feeling all the color drain from his face as he reached for the tape. He pulled it off the shelf and moved to the door, closing and locking it just in case so Mrs. Hudson wouldn’t walk in. 

Was this why Billy had killed Tommy? Because Tommy had seduced _Max_ and he’d found out about it? Feeling ill, he popped the tape into the VCR and turned on the TV, heart pounding hard in his chest. 

The image that popped onto the screen wasn’t one he was in any way prepared to see. Because in addition to the fact that Tommy was positioned between Max’s legs on the tape, Billy was naked beside her on the bed, holding her hands down with his _knees_ as tears rolled down her face. 

Steve barely made it to the bathroom before he threw up. 

***

“So you’re the one who found Max this morning?” Will looked from El to Kali, dark eyes full of worry. 

“Yes,” the dark-haired girl answered. 

He was having a hard time taking his eyes off the purple hair she donned. He knew people dyed their hair all sorts of colors, saw it frequently anytime MTV was on for more than a few minutes, but no one in Hawkins did that kind of thing. 

“Did she say anything? Was she awake?” Dustin asked from beside him, also staring at her with wide eyes. 

Kali glanced at Eleven and then turned to look at the two of them. “She told me her name was Max. She was worried about someone named Lucas.” 

“Who are you?” 

Will glanced behind Kali to see the aforementioned boy standing there with a wary look on his face. He knew as well as anyone that Max aside, Lucas struggled with strangers who were brought into the fold with no warning. But he hoped that since this was Eleven’s sister - sort of - it would be different. 

“Kali,” she said simply. “And you are?” 

“Lucas,” he responded evenly. 

“Kali’s my sister,” El spoke up, expression imploring. 

Will relaxed when Lucas’s own expression softened at that information. “You met Max?” he asked, moving to sit down with them. 

“This morning. I found the car she was in after it wrecked,” she explained once more. 

“And she said she was worried about me?” 

“If you’re Lucas, I assume so.” Kali arched her eyebrows. 

“Why would she be worried about you?” Mike asked, turning his head to stare at Lucas. 

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “She was worried about me just now, too. She told me I should stay with Hopper or Steve, and keep away from Billy. Like I have any desire to go near that guy.” 

At that information, Kali leaned forward. “Billy’s the one who was with her in the car this morning?” She seemed like she was simply asking for confirmation, so Will nodded. 

“Yeah, he’s her stepbrother.” 

“She told me he had a gun.” 

Will froze and he felt Lucas stiffen beside him, as well and for a long, almost unbearable moment, none of them said a word. 

“Billy had a _gun?_ ” Mike exclaimed. 

“Your friend seemed to think so. I never saw it,” Kali answered, glancing at Eleven, who looked worried now, too. 

“Why would he have a gun?” Will murmured. 

“Uh? Hello? Because he’s a goddamn crazy asshole?” Dustin offered, looking around at all of them. 

“Well, yeah,” Mike mumbled. “Which kinda begs the question why the two of them were in the car so early this morning.” 

“Do you think he was kidnapping her?” Will whispered. 

“She was worried about Lucas,” Mike answered, glancing at the other boy. 

Lucas rose to his feet. “So he kidnapped her and...what? He was coming after me when they crashed?” 

“Okay we don’t know that’s what happened,” Will pointed out, even though he had a sinking feeling they weren’t too far off base with their thought process. 

“We need to talk to Hop,” El spoke up. 

“Hop is your police man?” Kali asked, and Eleven nodded. 

“Where is he?” Lucas asked. 

“He went to grab more coffee,” Will told him. “He should be back any minute.” 

“Good. Because I wanna know what the hell is going on.” 

***

There was blood. There was so much blood, Max was sure she was going to drown in it. She didn’t know if it was hers or someone else’s, just that it was _everywhere_ and the more she tried to get away from the steadily rising bloodbath, the more she sank down into it until only her head was above the thick, viscous liquid. She cried out as she felt someone grab onto her arm, and for one moment she thought maybe she was about to be rescued. 

She woke up when someone shook her hard, bruising grip on her forearm. A soft protesting noise escaped her but she opened her eyes to see Billy hovering at her bedside, glaring down at her. 

Max stopped struggling against him instantly, heart pounding hard as she stared up at him through bleary-eyes. His left arm was in a white cast, and there were cuts and bruises all over his face. Some of them had been there the night before, thanks to Neil. The rest…

“I don’t know what you were thinking, but that was the fucking stupidest shit you’ve pulled yet,” he said harshly, face inches from her own. “And when we get out of here, I’m going to make you regret every single time you’ve ever defied me all over again.” 

Fear seeped into her, but before she had a chance to respond, there was a noise from the doorway. 

Steve stood a few feet behind Billy, hands balled into fists at his sides. “Over my dead body,” he snarled.


	2. Chapter 2

By the time Steve made it back to Hawkins Medical, his mind was racing, and his stomach was still churning with emotions that threatened to make him throw up again. He sat behind the wheel of the car, hands gripping tightly onto the steering wheel as he forced himself to take some slow, deep breaths. Beside him in the passenger seat were Max’s clothes, and the video tape that he’d found on Tommy’s shelf. 

He found himself wishing that Max was wrong; wishing that Tommy wasn’t dead for the sole purpose of being able to _beat the living shit_ out of him. 

Tommy might not be alive, but Billy sure as hell was, and one way or the other, Steve was determined to make sure he paid in full for what he’d had done to his little step-sister. And then he had to figure out how exactly to get Max the help she was going to need to deal with what they’d done to her. 

He climbed out of the car, still feeling a bit unsteady but managing to make his way up to the emergency room door, stepping inside and nodding slightly at the kids who were there gathered together, talking. He was pretty sure the only one who noticed him was Dustin, who nodded back at him and returned to the conversation they were all engaged in. He paused at the end of the hallway, forcing himself to take another deep breath before he went in to talk to Max, which he wanted to do before going to Hopper with what he’d found. 

What he hadn’t expected when he made it to the room was to see Billy looming over Max’s bed, his fingers wrapped tightly around the girl’s arm. The look on Max’s face was one of _terror_ as he growled at her.

“I don’t know what you were thinking, but that was the fucking stupidest shit you’ve pulled yet. And when we get out of here, I’m going to make you regret every single time you’ve ever defied me all over again.” 

For the briefest second, Steve’s mind flashed back to the night that Billy had attacked Lucas at the Byers’ house. He’d been _angry_ then. But it was rage that flowed through his veins this time. “Over my dead body,” he snarled, hands curling into fists. 

Billy glanced at him over his shoulder, rolling his eyes. “Harrington. Of course it’s you.” 

“Get the fuck away from her,” he ordered. “ _Now._ ” His gaze shifted momentarily to Max, taking in the wariness on her face, his chest tightening before he looked at Billy again. “Don’t make me tell you twice.” 

The other man let go of her arm, putting his hands in the air with a smirk. “Just having a little conversation with my step-sister, _Officer._ ” 

“You mean you’re _threatening_ your step-sister,” Steve bit out.  


“Max, was I threatening you?” Billy asked, sounding all too innocent as he looked at the redhead. 

“I _heard_ you, dumbass.” His jaw tightened and he watched Billy’s every move as he shifted to lean against the wall near Max’s bed. “Get out, and go back to your room.” Steve desperately wanted nothing more than to pummel the man’s face in, but he couldn’t. Especially not in front of Max. She’d been through enough already. He had to be careful not to tip his hand.

“Is that an official order?” 

“You bet your ass it is.” He pointed toward the door. “Go.” 

Billy turned and glanced at Max, giving her a pointed look that made her look down quickly as he headed for the door. “I’ll be back later.” 

_No,_ Steve thought. _You won’t._ He watched Billy slink out of the room, making sure he was down the hall and back into his own room before pushing the button on his radio to call for Hopper. When he was done, he rubbed a hand over his face and stepped back into Max’s room. “Hey. You okay?” 

“Yeah. I’m fine.” Her voice didn’t waver, but she didn’t look at him. 

She wasn’t fine. She couldn’t possibly be _fine._ He hesitated for a second, keeping one foot in her room and one in the hallway so he could keep an eye out in case Billy decided to try and take off. He heard footsteps approaching and he pressed his lips together in a grim line when he saw Hopper approaching. 

“Do I even wanna know?” he grumbled. 

“No, probably not,” Steve said quietly. “Billy’s awake. He was just in here harassing Max. I sent him back to his own room, but I thought it’d be best if you kept an eye on him while I talked to her, just in case he figures out that we’re onto him.” About more than one crime. 

Hopper grimaced. “I’ll talk to him about his dirtbag dad while I’m at it.” 

“Good idea.” Because if Steve had to talk to Billy again, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep himself from killing him. “And I got your warrant for the Hargrove place.” 

The chief stared at him for a moment, eyes narrowing and Steve couldn’t shake the impression that Hopper could see right through him. “You find anything useful at Tommy’s house?” 

He held his breath, glancing his over his shoulder at the girl inside, curled up away from them. “Yeah. Yeah, but it’s...I need to talk to Max before I fill you in. Just - trust me.”  


He was sure Hopper was about to argue, but then he just shook his head. “Fine. You talk to her, I’ll talk to him, and then I’ll get someone down here to keep an eye on him around the clock until he’s released. Hopefully by then we’ll have some kind of actual evidence of murder and we can toss him into a cell next to his dad.” 

Steve had no doubt that Billy was going to end up locked away one way or the other, but whether it would be for murder, rape, or both remained to be seen. “Yeah.” He watched Hopper stride down the hall toward Billy’s room and he rubbed his hand over his face again before stepping all the way into the hospital room, closing the door quietly for privacy. 

“I’m fine,” Max mumbled and he exhaled. 

“Max, I just came from Tommy’s house.” 

She went rigid at that for the briefest of moments and then she slowly turned to look at him over her shoulder. “Okay?” 

Steve met her eyes, then slowly moved to sit down beside her. “I went a few days ago to try and see if there were any clues about what happened but I didn’t really notice anything out of place. When I went today, I saw a hoodie. Green. It was yours. Before, I just kinda figured it was his but when I really looked at it, I saw the tag and saw the size and then I remembered I’d seen you wearing it.” 

“I didn’t do anything to him,” she said immediately, eyes going wide as she misinterpreted what he was saying. 

“No, I -- I know. Of course I know that.” Shit, he was bad at this. Maybe Hopper was right. Maybe this was too much of a conflict of interest. Maybe he should just fill Hopper in on what he’d found and let him take over. But the confusion on Max’s face was enough for him to realize he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t excuse himself from all of this because he was uncomfortable. “Max…” He looked down at the floor. “I found a tape.” 

***

For one horrible moment, Max was certain Steve was going to ask her if she’d killed Tommy. But what he said next was even worse. 

“I found a tape.” 

She stared at him blankly even as she felt like he’d dumped ice water on her, her blood running cold with those implications. She tried to speak, but couldn’t. She laid her head back against the pillows, facing away from him once more, arm curled around her stomach as that sank in. Tommy really _had_ made a tape of that night. And Steve had found it. She closed her eyes, trying to convince her stomach not to expel the meager contents of Jello she’d eaten an hour ago. “Oh.” She didn’t really know what else to say, didn’t know what it was he wanted to hear. This wasn’t a scenario she’d envisioned before blurting out to him earlier that Billy had killed Tommy, but she realized now she _should_ have. 

“Max.” His voice was soft in a way she’d never heard it before and her eyes stung with tears that she struggled to hold back. 

“I don’t really remember it,” she said flatly. That much at least, was the truth. She’d been having nightmares, but whether or not they were actual memories from that night or just what her mind had come up with to fill in the blanks was anyone’s guess. 

“What do you --” 

“They drugged me,” Max cut him off. She heard him mumble something she was pretty sure was _Jesus Christ_. “I don’t know what they used. Billy wouldn’t tell me. He just - said it was Tommy’s idea.” Like that somehow made it better. 

“He’s not gonna get by with it,” he told her. “I’m gonna make sure he’s locked up for the rest of his fucking life, Max. He’s never gonna touch you again. I swear to God.”

“You can’t know that,” she muttered. “Billy’s smarter than people give him credit for.” 

“Yeah, well, with that tape for evidence, and once I find Tommy’s body --” 

Max sat up so quickly at that, that her head spun and she had to grip onto the bed railing as pain shot through her. “ _No._ ” 

“What?” 

“You can’t show that tape to _anyone_ , Steve!” Her eyes were wide and he stared back at her, clearly confused. 

“Max, it’s _evidence_ ,” he started. 

“Of _rape_ ,” she hissed. “It won’t even _matter_. Do you know what they do to rape victims in court, Steve? There’s a reason people stay quiet when it happens. If I wanted the whole fucking world to know, don’t you think I would have come to you or Hopper already?” Hot tears stung her eyes. 

“It wasn’t your _fault_.” 

“Do you really think anyone else is going to care whose fault it was? They never _do_. Don’t you watch the news? That girl who was raped by those guys on her school’s football team in Canton? She had to go into _hiding_ , Steve. No one believed her, they tore her apart on the witness stand and the news covered _all_ of it. That’s not going to be me. Forget it.” She drew in a shuddering breath. 

“Okay, okay.” He exhaled, reaching out hesitantly like he was going to put his hand on her arm but pausing before he actually touched her, and then pulling away entirely. “Sorry.” 

She tried to smile but couldn’t. “See? You’re already treating me different,” she murmured, lying back down on the bed and letting her eyes close. This was part of the reason she didn’t want anyone to know. She didn’t want people to treat her like she was _broken_ , even if maybe she was. 

He was silent for a long moment, but he didn’t move away. “I’m gonna do whatever I can to put him away for killing Tommy, even if the bastard deserved it.” This time she felt a gentle pressure on her arm and when she opened her eyes to look at him, his brown eyes were full of so much sadness it _hurt_. “I’m so sorry, Max.” His voice was barely a whisper. 

“I know,” she whispered back. She sniffed, looking down at his hand on her arm and covering it with her other hand. “I need you to do me a huge favor.” 

“Name it,” Steve responded. 

This time, Max managed a faint smile.

***

Dustin’s heart was beating quick in his chest as he made his way down the hall toward Max’s room, peeking in and spotting her curled up in bed faced away from him. She was hooked up to an IV machine, and a couple of other monitors he didn’t readily recognize and for a moment he just hesitated in the doorway. He glanced over his shoulder toward the empty hall, then back at her, before heading farther into the room. 

“Max?” He whispered, not wanting to wake her if she was asleep. 

She wasn’t. She lifted her head immediately, looking at him, expression stricken for the briefest of moments before it melted away into something a little less wary and guarded. “Hey.” 

“Hey,” he greeted, slowly moving around her bed and sitting down in the recliner beside her. “How are you feeling?” 

Max shrugged. “I’m all right,” she told him, and if he hadn’t spent the last year watching her so intently, he probably would have believed her, but he had, so he didn’t. 

It was hard not to notice the fist-sized purple bruise on her forehead, the tiny little cuts and scrapes on her face and her arms. He struggled not to focus on them for too long, not wanting to make her self-conscious or pissed off about it. “You got a headache? Steve said you had a concussion.” 

“Yeah, I guess. A little.” She shifted slightly, adjusting her pillows so she could lay more comfortably facing him. He couldn’t help but wince when she did as she moved. “Broken ribs suck, for the record.” 

“I bet,” he said, tapping his fingers on the arm of the chair. “Did they say how long you were gonna be stuck in here?” 

“No, no one’s really said. Probably til tomorrow at least.”

That wasn’t long. He wondered if it was long enough considering her injuries. “El’s sister is here,” he said, leaning forward a little. “Her name’s Kali. She’s like El, except her powers are different,” he added in a hushed whisper. “She’s the one who found you guys this morning. Do you remember that?” 

Her eyebrows furrowed, and she shook her head. “I don’t remember anything after the crash until I woke up here,” she told him. 

Dustin’s gaze darted toward the door, but there was no one there, so he looked at Max again. “She said you told her Billy had a gun.” He kept his eyes on her face and he held his breath when her gaze shifted away. 

“Because he did,” she whispered, lifting her hand to her mouth and chewing her thumbnail. 

“ _Why?_ How did he even get a gun?” He shook his head, eyes wide at the confirmation. 

“I don’t know where he got it. Or how. But he told me that…” She seemed to hesitate for a moment, and when he leaned in a little, her eyes focused on his face. “He told me he killed Tommy.” 

“Holy shit,” he whispered. “Holy _shit_ , Max. Did you tell Steve? Does he --” 

“He knows. I told him earlier. He’s working on it.” She closed her eyes. 

“Holy _shit,_ ” he mumbled. “Is that why you were out with him this morning? Did he like, kidnap you or something?” He had so many questions he needed answered. They all did. But she seemed to curl in on herself a little more at that one and he sat back in the seat. “It’s okay, you don’t have to answer that yet. I should probably just - let you rest.” He didn’t really want to go, but she looked exhausted suddenly.

“Dustin.” Her voice was barely audible. 

“Yeah?” 

“Thanks. For being a good friend.” 

Dustin blinked a couple of times, but then a smile spread across his face almost involuntarily. “Yeah, of course. I’m always here. We all are.” He expected her to smile at that, but she didn’t, and something inside of him twisted in response. He fell silent, watching over her as she drifted off to sleep. 

***

Billy was out of bed and in the process of getting dressed when he heard footsteps at the door. He tensed, turning and bracing himself as he expected to see his dad, but instead he narrowed his eyes at Chief Hopper. 

“Feeling better?” 

He couldn’t read the older man’s expression, but he didn’t like the way Hopper was staring at him. “Better enough to get the hell out of this place.” 

“Afraid I’m going to delay that for the time being.” The chief folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the doorframe. “I have some questions for you.” 

“I’m sure you’ve already talked to Max,” he responded evenly. And she wouldn’t have been stupid enough to admit she’d been running away and he’d stopped her. 

“I haven’t, actually. But I did talk with the doctor who treated the two of you. She expressed a great deal of concern over some old wounds she found on both of you.” 

Billy could barely keep himself from rolling his eyes. “Yeah, it’s called discipline.” 

“Old cigarette burns are your dad’s form of discipline?” Hopper raised his eyebrows, then pushed himself away from the door and motioned for Billy to sit down. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he responded, remaining where he stood. 

“Sure you don’t.” Hopper stared at him intently and Billy had the uncomfortable feeling that the man could see right through him. “For the record, your dad’s currently down at the station in a holding cell, awaiting arraignment tomorrow morning.” 

Billy stared at him, letting that information sink in. “You arrested my dad?” 

“I’m hoping to put him away for a long time,” the chief told him, and for a moment, Billy considered that. Considered what life would be like without the threat of his dad looming over him every moment of the day and night. Sounded too good to be true. Most things were. 

“He’ll be out on bail by morning,” he told Hopper, working to shrug into his jean jacket despite the cast that was on his arm. 

“You might as well make yourself comfortable. You’re not going anywhere until the doctor releases you and as far as I’m aware that hasn’t happened yet.” 

“I’m a big boy, Chief, I think I can take care of myself.” 

“Like you took care of your friend Tommy?” 

He froze at that and then lifted an eyebrow. “Excuse me?” 

“Rumor has it that you had a hand in his disappearance.” 

Max. That fucking _cunt_. His jaw tightened ever so slightly, but aside from that, his expression gave away nothing. “Sometimes rumors are just rumors, Chief.” There was no way they’d be able to connect him to Tommy’s disappearance. Not without a body. And there was zero chance they’d be finding that anytime soon.

“Sometimes rumors have illegal weapons that back them up.” 

Billy rolled his eyes. “So because I had a gun I must be a murderer? I can see why they made you the chief.” 

Hopper’s smile was humorless. “Like I said, kid. I’d make yourself comfortable. You’re not going anywhere just yet.” He glanced toward the door and Billy followed his gaze to where another officer stood.

“You can’t keep me here,” he said tensely, glaring at Hopper. 

“Actually, I can. At least until the doctor releases you. Then you’ll be looking at a change of scenery. It’ll be even drabber than this place.” 

Billy’s fingers curled into fists at his sides, which made pain shoot up his bad arm. He was going to kill that stupid bitch the first chance he got. 

***

Hopper glanced sideways at Steve as they made their way up to the Hargrove house later that afternoon. The kid had been largely silent on the way over, and he knew there was something he wasn’t saying, and it was both driving him crazy and pissing him off. But right now he was going to focus on the task at hand. He reached out and rang the doorbell, pressing his lips together when Susan Hargove answered the door. Her eyes were red-rimmed from crying. “Mrs. Hargove. Got a warrant to search your house,” he told her, holding up the piece of paper with the judge’s signature. 

“For what?” Her eyes grew slightly wider, and she shook her head. 

“Your stepson is considered a suspicious person in the disappearance of Tommy Hudson,” he informed her. 

“ _What?_ First you arrest my husband, and now you think Billy had something to do with--” 

“Max told me Billy admitted to her that he killed Tommy,” Steve interrupted, apparently losing his patience. 

She grew silent, face paling even more as she stared at them, her hand trembling as she held the door open for them. 

“We’re going to search the premises, now,” Hopper told her, stepping inside and glancing back at Steve, who followed him. “I’m going to ask that you stay seated in the living room on the couch while we work, Mrs. Hargrove.” 

Wordlessly, she moved to sit on the sofa, looking frail and scared. 

Hopper and Steve exchanged a look and they both headed down the hallway, Steve ducking into the bedroom he assumed was Max’s while Hopper made his way into the room he assumed to be Billy’s, if the posters of half-naked women and ashtray full of cigarette butts were anything to go by. He searched the dresser, but found nothing but clothes and a couple of porn magazines. The only thing under the bed was some dirty clothes and a half-gone bottle of Jack, which made Hopper grimace. 

He rose to his feet, scanning the empty shelves and then moving to the closet, pulling open the doors and shoving the twenty or so hangers of clothes as far to the side as they’d go. He looked down at the large black trunk on the floor, kneeling down on the floor in front of it and pulling open the lid. More porn mags, some rope and three different sizes of floggers. The kid was into some kinky shit, apparently. Still, as disturbing as it was, there wasn’t anything criminal about being into BDSM. 

He moved all of those things out of the trunk, pausing when he spotted a handful of bullets in the corner of the trunk, and a manila envelope, along with some other items even he couldn’t identify. He picked up the envelope and opened the flap, pulling out a stack of photographs. It was what the photographs were _of_ that made all the air leave his lungs. The one atop the pile was a picture of Max, a gag in her mouth, tears streaming down her face. She was naked and kneeling on the floor with her hands tied behind her back. 

“Jesus Christ,” he muttered, stomach turning.

“Chief?” 

He quickly looked toward the door when Steve appeared in the entrance, looking worried. “What is it?” 

“What did you…” His voice trailed off when his gaze shifted to the pictures in Hopper’s hand. 

Hopper’s jaw tensed and he slid the photographs back into the envelope before rising to his feet. “Looks like murder isn’t his only crime.” He watched Steve carefully, saw the way his hands were balled into fists. 

“That son of a _bitch_.” Steve’s voice shook and Hopper moved over to stand in front of him. 

“You’ve gotta do your best to compartmentalize right now,” he said quietly. “We need to gather as much evidence as we possibly can so we can lock him up for the rest of his life. Did you find anything in Max’s room?” 

“Sheets. Bloody sheets in the back of her closet,” he responded, and Hopper studied him, reaching out and squeezing one of his shoulders. 

“Bag it up and keep looking,” Hopper told him. 

“What happens if we can’t find evidence of him killing Tommy?” Steve asked, troubled. 

Hopper pressed his lips together, expression grim as an idea occurred to him. It wasn’t one he liked, but it was probably going to be necessary. “All we need to find is the body. With any luck, it’ll tell us exactly what we need to know.” 

***

When Max woke up, she found a pair of brown eyes peering at her from only a few inches away. Instinctively she flinched back, fingers tightening around the sheet that was draped over her. It took her fuzzy brain a moment to realize the eyes belonged to Jane Hopper, and when it did, her heart began to beat at a more regular pace instead of a gallop. She blinked a few times, then lifted her hand to rub at her eyes. “Jane?” 

“Hi.” The other girl sat back a little in the recliner.

Max managed to give her a faint, small smile. “Hey. Guess the guys stuck you with checking on me this time, huh?” 

Her eyebrows furrowed. “It was my turn,” she explained. “We can only see you one at a time. Hopper said we were too stressful all together.” 

That might have been the most words that Jane had ever spoken directly to Max in the entire year and a half they’d known each other. She chewed her lower lip as she gazed at the pretty brunette. “Is Lucas okay?” 

“Yes,” she answered, nodding. “He’s in the waiting room still.” 

Max waited for Jane to ask her questions, because she could see them as much on her face as she had on Lucas’ and Dustin’s faces. But Jane remained quiet and she thanked her for it silently. She had no doubt that Dustin had filled them all in on the fact that Billy was under investigation for murder. “Is Steve back yet?” 

“No. He and Hopper are still gone. Working.” Jane’s dark eyes searched her own blue ones. “A lot of pain?” 

That wasn’t the question she was anticipating, to say the least. “Some. The drugs help.” They also made her extremely groggy, which she hated. She glanced at the IV bag that she was hooked up to and then back at Jane, who followed her gaze.

“Good.” 

Max fell silent, letting her eyes close, exhaling slowly. She was hoping against hope that Billy had left _some_ kind of evidence of his crime behind, something that Hopper and Steve could use to hold him, to charge him with murder and lock him away for the rest of his life. At the same time, she was almost positive he hadn’t. She wouldn’t be that lucky. She was _never_ that lucky. And if they couldn’t find evidence of _that_ , whether she wanted it or not, Steve would most certainly turn over Tommy’s tape for evidence of the rest of Billy’s sins. She didn’t even realize she was crying until she felt a hand closing over her own, and the touch was so unexpected, so out of the norm for Jane, Max started. 

“It’s okay,” the brunette whispered. “You’re going to be okay. _Promise._ ” 

Something about those words from the other girl undid something inside of her that had been long-buried, and her face crumpled as she buried it in her pillow even as Jane squeezed her hand tightly. After a few seconds, Max linked her fingers through Jane’s and held on like her life depended on it. 

It sort of felt like it did.

And even through her muffled sobs and flood of tears, Jane let her hold on and didn’t let go. 

***

The drive from the Hargrove place to the police station was a long one. Steve’s body sat ramrod straight in the passenger seat of Hopper’s truck, his jaw tight, hands clenched at his sides. By the time they’d left Max’s house, they’d gathered a lot of evidence -- but nothing that necessarily pointed to _murder._ A few bullets in the bottom of Billy’s closet, but unless they were able to find Tommy’s body, all they had was a ton of evidence of the man’s other crimes. From the sheer amount of photos that Billy had taken, it was obvious to Steve that he’d been raping his little sister on a regular basis for some time now. 

And not just raping her. Torturing her, if the floggers and whips and rope and gags Hopper had found were anything to go by. 

“What if we can’t find Tommy’s body?” His voice sounded hollow to his own ears. 

“We will.” Hopper’s answer was short, matter-of-fact. 

How the hell could he be so certain about it? He wondered. And even if they _did_ find Tommy’s body, would even _that_ and Max’s testimony that Billy confessed to killing the other boy be enough evidence for the court system? 

“This has to be airtight, Hop,” he said evenly. 

“I’m aware of that.” The other man stared ahead at the road as he drove. 

Steve was silent for a moment. “There’s a video tape,” he said finally, knowing he had to come forward with that information. 

“A video tape?” 

He drew in a breath and exhaled slowly. “Of Tommy and Billy. With Max. I found it at Tommy’s house this morning.” He couldn’t bring himself to look at the older man.  
“And you didn’t think I needed to know that until _now?_ ” 

“Max doesn’t want it getting out,” Steve responded. “She doesn’t want everyone to know what happened. What they did.” 

“Yeah, well, if we want to make sure Hargrove goes to prison, she might not have much of a choice in that.” That was exactly what Steve was afraid of. After everything she’d been through, he was afraid she was going to end up being dragged through a rape trial to boot. 

He stared out the windshield, jaw tightening once more. “There’s another option we haven’t considered.” 

“And what’s that?” Hopper questioned, glancing at him sideways. 

“Sometimes people in this town just disappear, don’t they?” He let those words hang in the air, not surprised when Hopper didn’t respond right away.

The truck came to an abrupt stop and Steve sat silently, waiting for the inevitable ass-chewing. 

“Are you suggesting we _kill_ Hargrove?” 

He turned his head to look at the chief, meeting his eyes. “For all I care, we can have Jane open that gate and throw him into the Upside Down.” It was the least of what Billy deserved. All Steve could think about was how sad Max’s eyes were when she’d looked at him this morning. 

“We’re _not_ killing him, Harrington!” 

Anger flared within him and he glared at Hopper. “If some piece of shit did to Jane what they did to Max, what would _you_ want to do to him? What would _you_ do to him?” he demanded. 

“If you think for one second I don’t care what happened because it was to _Max_ and not Jane, you’re dead wrong,” he growled. “I want that dickhead locked up for the rest of his life for what he’s done. But we’re _not_ killers, Steve.” 

He looked away, hot tears stinging his eyes as his mind flashed to the horror he’d seen on that video tape a few hours before. Max, crying and pleading, vulnerable and scared as her own step brother and Steve’s ex-best friend forced themselves on her. “I’m glad Tommy’s dead,” he whispered, and his stomach turned because it was the _truth._

He heard Hopper take a deep breath, shifting beside him on the seat. “One way or the other, we’ll keep her safe.” 

“You can’t guarantee that,” he said dully. If there was one thing that living in Hawkins had taught him over the last couple years, it was that no one was ever really safe from monsters. 

“Give me a chance, Kid.” Hopper shifted the truck into gear once more and Steve turned his head to look at him, eyebrows furrowing. “I have a plan.” 

***

“So Billy killed Tommy.” Lucas sat on the edge of Max’s bed, still trying to process what he’d learned over the last few hours. He shook his head, gaze shifting to look at the redhead, who was curled up on her side facing him. One of her hands was tucked under her pillow, the other hooked up to an IV. 

“Yeah,” she murmured, not meeting his eyes. She rarely ever did anymore these days. There was more to this story that he didn’t know yet. He could feel it with every fiber of his being. 

“Do you think he just...snapped? Like he did the night El closed the gate, with Steve?” His voice dropped to barely a whisper as he tried to engage her in conversation. 

Max didn’t answer for a moment. “Billy’s always been a ticking time bomb,” she answered. “Lucas?” She finally lifted her gaze to look at him. 

“Yeah?” He shifted closer, reaching out and gently resting a hand on her arm. 

“If they can’t prove he killed Tommy, there’s gonna be trouble,” she whispered. 

“Because he knows you’re the one who turned him in?” It made sense. Of course she’d be afraid that Billy was going to come after her out of revenge. But it didn’t matter. They’d keep her safe. “Max, it’ll be okay. One way or the other, he won’t hurt you. Okay? You can stay with Steve or Hopper or my family, and it’ll be okay.” 

“You don’t understand.” She exhaled, and shifted slightly, struggling and wincing as she forced herself to sit up, his eyes widening as he started to protest the movement, but she cut his protests off with a look. “He won’t come after me. He’ll go after the person I care about the most.” 

It took him a moment to understand what she was saying and he held his breath, both at the realization of who she meant, and at the implications. “Me,” he surmised. 

Max nodded, her face so much paler than usual, and she was light-complected to begin with. She practically looked like a ghost. He tried not to think about that. 

“Hey. I’ll be fine,” he told her, giving her his best reassuring look. “He won’t do anything to me. If he does, El will like, eviscerate him with her mind, okay?” 

The corners of her mouth tugged upwards like she was about to smile, but she didn’t quite manage it. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, gaze dropping to the sheet covering her legs. 

Lucas frowned, eyebrows furrowing. “Sorry for what? Max, you didn’t do anything wrong.” He watched the way she twisted her fingers together, but when he looked up at her face again, he could see she was struggling not to cry. “Hey. _Hey._ Look, whatever reason you think any of this is your fault...it isn’t. Billy’s a psychopath. This is on him, not on you. We’ll get through this.” He reached out and covered her hands with one of his own and after a second, she laced their fingers together. 

“What if we can’t?” Her voice dropped. “What if this is something we can’t get through?” 

His stomach twisted because everything about her demeanor screamed that there was so much more behind her words and he had no idea what it was or how to help her. “We _will._ ” His voice was much firmer than he actually felt. “We’ll get through this, and with any luck, Billy will spend the rest of his life in a prison cell.” 

“Maybe,” Max murmured. Her grip tightened on his hand as footsteps approached the door and he frowned, because she never used to be so jumpy. He glanced to the door, freezing when he spotted her mom standing there, her lips pressed into a thin line. 

“I need to speak with my daughter,” she said curtly. 

Lucas looked from Mrs. Hargrove to Max. “I’ll be right outside if you need me. Okay?” he whispered. 

She nodded and he rose to his feet, reluctantly letting go of her hand before heading toward the door, eying the older woman warily. She didn’t even look at him as he passed by and he couldn’t shake the feeling that things were about to get even worse. 

Somehow. 

***

Max could tell her mom was angry just by glancing at her as Lucas left the room and her stomach clenched. She wished she’d asked him to stay, but it was too late now. “Hey.” 

“What the _hell_ is wrong with you?” Susan demanded, moving closer to the bed. “Why on _earth_ would you tell people that your brother killed that boy who’s missing?” 

All the air escaped her lungs. “Because he told me he did, Mom,” she answered, proud when her voice didn’t waver. “And I believe him.” 

“No. No, this is - you hit your head in the accident and you’re confused. That’s all,” she said, shaking her head. 

Max had no doubt her mom truly believed that. “He told me before we wrecked.” It was part of _why_ they’d wrecked. If Billy was so willing to kill Tommy, someone he considered a friend, she knew he’d have no trouble killing Lucas and the rest of his family. He’d enjoy it, because he liked hurting people. 

Susan took a deep breath. “I think you’ll understand that this is all in your head when you start feeling a little better, Max. But just so you know -- the chief and his deputy searched our house, and now on top of having to bail Neil out of jail tomorrow, I’m going to have to come up with enough money to get a lawyer for him _and_ Billy.” 

Max blinked a couple of times, gripping onto the bedrail. “Wait, why do you have to bail Neil out?” 

“Because the _doctor_ found evidence of abuse when she examined the two of you.” This time Susan didn’t meet her eyes. 

“And he’s in jail?” Why the hell hadn’t Steve or Hopper mentioned that to her?

“Yes, and you’re going to have to explain to them that the marks they found weren’t _abuse_ , they were _discipline_ , because apparently no one knows the difference.” 

Feeling a little dizzy, Max rubbed a hand over her face. “Do you actually believe that? That what he does to Billy _all_ the time is normal? That it’s okay?” She could hear the disbelief in her own voice. 

“I know that sometimes he gets carried away, but he’s done his best to raise Billy to be prepared to face the world. That isn’t an easy task, you know?” 

A strangled laugh escaped her, involuntarily. “Right. He’s done such a bang up job of _that_.” 

Susan’s gaze shifted back to her once more. “I know you don’t like him, Max. I’ve known that since the beginning. But it doesn’t mean he’s a bad person. You’ve never given him a fair chance. You always look for the worst in people and --” 

“Sorry I’m not some kind of pollyanna that can just bury her head in the sand when it comes to her new step dad beating the hell out of her new step brother with a belt a couple times a week,” she snapped, anger boiling up inside of her. “Maybe if you hadn’t been so terrified to be alone, you wouldn’t have jumped straight from _Dad_ to a guy like _Neil_ \-- “ 

Pain exploded in her cheek and tears stung her eyes involuntarily as she gaped at her mom with wide eyes, holding a hand to her face from where her mom had just slapped her. Susan looked almost as stunned by her own actions as Max felt. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry, Max. I didn’t -- I wasn’t thinking. I’m so sorry.” 

Max didn’t respond because she didn’t know what to say. Her mom had never hit her before, had never even acted like she wanted to. A tear trickled down her face as she stared at the older woman. She felt like she was looking at a complete stranger, and maybe she was. They might be related, might be mother and daughter, but they knew so very little about one another. Maybe that was just how it was supposed to be in her life. Keeping secrets from everyone around her, and pretending she was okay when in reality she felt like she’d been hollowed out, was a shell of a person, and everyone she came into contact with just made it a little worse. 

“Please go now,” Max said, voice quiet. She shifted on the bed, turning her back to her mother and lying down to stare at the wall, cheek still stinging. 

“Max --” 

“Get _out_ ,” she said flatly. 

She closed her eyes as she heard the her mom’s high heels clicking against the floor as she retreated from the room. 

***

Hopper wasn’t looking forward to the conversation he had to have with the young redhead. Said redhead was currently sitting up in bed, pillows propped up behind her back as she stared blankly at the television -- the ten o’clock news. She didn’t have the volume turned on, and if he didn’t know better, he’d think she was oblivious to his presence. 

“You’ve been standing there for almost ten minutes. Just come in,” she said without so much as looking at him. 

He sighed, taking his hat off and quietly closing the hospital room door behind him as he moved to sit in the chair beside her bed. He looked at her intently, taking in the sight of her pale face, which made the bruising on her head and the cuts on her skin stand out that much more. “You know why I’m here.” 

Max bit down on her lower lip, reaching out and clicking the TV off. “You want the whole story, right?” 

Hopper had a pretty good idea of how that whole story was going to play out, but he needed to hear it from her. “Yes.” 

She nodded and he watched as she twisted her fingers together on her lap atop the white blankets, looking somehow both younger and older than she really was. “Are the others -- everyone went home, right? Because it’s late and they have school tomorrow?” 

“Everyone’s gone except Harrington,” he assured her. “He’s down the hall keeping an eye on--” 

“Right.” She chewed her lip momentarily before exhaling, squaring her shoulders. “Well then let’s get this over with.” She reached up and tucked a strand of stray hair behind her ear. “Where do you want me to start?” 

“The beginning’s usually the best place,” he answered. 

She was quiet for a few moments and he sat silent and still, waiting. “It started a few months ago. I went to this...stupid party. With Lucas and the others. The one you said Jane couldn’t come to.” She hesitated. “I had a couple drinks.” She didn’t look at him. “Some guy gave us all rides home.” 

Hopper watched her intently as she spoke, her voice quieter than he’d ever heard before from the girl sitting in front of him. 

“I was tired when I got home. Mom and Neil were...I don’t even remember. Not home, though. I just went straight to bed. I guess I was more out of it than usual from the alcohol because I didn’t --” Her breathing hitched and Hopper sat forward a little, body tensing. “I didn’t hear anything until it was too late and when I woke up, Billy was just -- there. On top of me.” 

He forced himself to take a deep breath, nodding and waiting for her to continue. 

“He said if I told anyone, he’d go after Lucas. I believed him,” Max whispered. “I thought at first that was it. That it was a one time thing and I’d just forget it and we’d move on but it kept happening.” 

Hopper flexed his fingers to avoid curling them into fists. He had to stay calm, level-headed, detached. 

“A couple months ago he put a gun in my mouth. I don’t know where he got it from,” she told him, shaking her head. 

Jesus Christ. How the hell had she gone through all of this without anyone knowing anything was happening? He wondered. Had they all really been that blind? 

“I don’t remember the night from the video. With him and Tommy. Just...bits and pieces. Billy said Tommy drugged me with something.” Her voice was emotionless. “Tommy blackmailed me at school in the locker room. He said there was a tape and that if I didn’t have sex with him, he’d show it to his friends. So I let him have what he wanted. But I confronted Billy after school.” 

“What did he say?” he asked, trying to ignore the growing urge he had to make his way down the hall and kill the younger Hargrove. 

“He acted shocked,” she responded. “I avoided him for a few days after that. I didn’t go home. Not until Friday. Tommy’s girlfriend Carol caught my mom and Neil on our way out of school and told them I’d been sleeping with her boyfriend.” 

“How did they take that?” he asked, keeping his tone carefully devoid of any trace of anger or disgust. 

A short, humorless laugh escaped her. “About as well as you’d imagine, Chief.” She looked at him, and her blue eyes were full of so much raw pain that it felt like he’d been punched in the gut. “Neil grounded me for the summer. That was the same night that Tommy disappeared.” 

Hopper drew in a breath, nodding. “All right. Let’s fast forward to last night.” 

“I was leaving. I packed a bag, I stole money from my mom. I was gonna try and get back to my dad’s house in California.” Max looked down. “I didn’t make it very far and Billy caught up with me. I don’t know if he heard me leave, or if he sneaked into my room and saw I was gone, but he grabbed me and slammed my head into the passenger side window. The next thing I knew, I was waking up and he was driving too fast. Erratic. Talking about killing the Sinclairs the way that he’d killed Tommy.” Tears pooled in her eyes and Hopper resisted the urge to reach out and wrap her in a hug. 

“You believed him,” he guessed. 

“He had the gun out. He was driving toward Lucas’ house. He would have killed them, so...I did what I had to do.” 

It took him a moment to realize what she meant and he sat up straight, staring at her. “You made him wreck the car to stop him.” 

“I didn’t care if I lived or not at that point. I just had to stop him from hurting Lucas and his family,” Max confessed, hands trembling as she pulled at strings on the blanket covering her lap. 

“Well, you did that,” he told her, pressing his lips together. He was silent for a moment, leaning back in the chair. “Did he give you any kind of idea what he did with the body?” 

“No,” she murmured. “He didn’t.” 

“Okay.” Hopper studied her. “I want you to know I’m gonna do everything I can to make sure most of what you told me never gets out. But I can’t --” 

“Make any promises,” she finished without looking up. “I know.” 

“I’m sorry for what happened to you.” He was sorry that he hadn’t known what was happening. That he hadn’t stopped it. 

“It’s not your fault.” She shrugged. 

“You know you’re probably going to have to testify against Billy, right?” His voice grew quiet. “About him admitting to you that he murdered Tommy.” 

“Yeah. I know how this works, Chief,” she said wryly. She glanced up at him. “And I’m assuming I’m going to have to testify against Neil, too.” 

Hopper nodded, exhaling. “More than likely.” 

“I can do that. He deserves to be in prison.” There was more than a hint of bitterness in her voice now.

“All right. I’m gonna let you get some rest. But I promise you that Billy Hargrove isn’t going to get his hands on you ever again, one way or the other.” He rose to his feet.

“Everyone’s so quick to make promises,” she murmured. “But sometimes it’s easier to say than actually do.” 

Hopper’s chest tightened at that. “Kid, you have my word that from here on out, you’re gonna be safe.” Even if he had to make room in his own house for another teen girl. “You have any problems here, you call me.” He set one of his cards on the dresser beside her bed. “I don’t care if it’s 3 in the morning. I’ll be here.” 

Max looked up at him wordlessly, nodding. 

“I’ll see you soon.” He gave her a faint smile that didn’t reach his eyes and he headed toward the door, more determined than ever to make sure both Hargroves ended up exactly where they belonged. Prison, or six feet under.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this obviously took me awhile to write. Sorry for the delay. Depression hit me hard the last few weeks, but hopefully the light at the end of the tunnel has finally arrived. This may wind up being four parts instead of three. We'll see how it plays out when I start on the next part and hopefully it won't take me over a month to write it. Sigh.


	3. Chapter 3

“So. Mike’s still pretty upset with your mom, I take it.” 

Nancy turned to see Jonathan standing beside her locker the next morning as she reached for her chemistry textbook. “Yeah, I guess so. Not that I blame him.” She wasn’t exactly thrilled with her mom at the moment either. She shut her locker, clutching the books to her chest as they started to walk. “I’m not happy about this development either. I mean...Billy Hargrove? Really?” Her expression reflected the disgust she felt just thinking about it. 

Jonathan grimaced. “Well, he can stay at the house as long as he needs to. So can you, if you want. Mom would be okay with it.” 

She smiled a little at that, starting to say something when she caught sight of a familiar figure down the hall at another one of the lockers. “Is that Steve?” They both stopped in their tracks, watching as Steve used a tool to clip the combination lock off the locker in question as Mr. Snyder stood beside him, deep frown etched onto his face. 

“Whose locker is that?” 

“Tommy’s,” she murmured, glancing at him sideways before heading toward her ex-boyfriend. “Steve?” When he turned to look at her, she almost froze again, this time because of how pale and tired he looked. Her chest tightened involuntarily. “Are you all right?” 

“I’m fine, Nance. Just working.” He glanced at Snyder, who gave her and Jonathan a stern glare. 

“You two need to get to class. This is a police matter,” he said firmly. 

It was all she could do not to scowl at him. If he only knew how many police matters she’d been involved in during the last couple years...well. He’d be shocked. “Of course, Principal Snyder. Bye, Steve,” she said, and he gave her a quick nod before heading away with Jonathan. 

She’d grill him later.

***

“Do you really think you’re going to find evidence in one of their lockers?” Snyder questioned and Steve shrugged. 

“Maybe. Maybe not. But we can’t leave any possibilities unturned.” Not when Max’s life was on the line. Hopper had assured him once more that he had a plan, but so far he’d yet to fill Steve in on what that plan consisted of, exactly. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Hopper, but after everything from the last few days, Steve’s patience was wearing dangerously thin. “If you don’t mind, Sir, I really need to get to work. I appreciate your cooperation,” he said politely. 

He’d never really liked Snyder that much. The guy was arrogant, condescending. He reminded Steve of his dad. He watched as the principal somewhat reluctantly turned and headed back to his office before he turned his attention back to the task at hand. He pulled everything out of Tommy’s locker: every textbook, every scrap of paper, an old picture of him with Carol taped to the inside of the door. He combed through it thoroughly, checking all the textbooks for letters or notes, but found nothing suspicious in the least. 

He wasn’t surprised. 

After he put the things back, he made his way to locker 92. Billy’s. He popped the combination lock off it as well, yanking it open and ignoring the curious glances from students as they milled about before class. He relaxed slightly when the bell rang and everyone filtered into their respective classrooms. 

He took Billy’s locker apart as thoroughly as he had Tommy’s. His books sat on the bottom shelf, looking brand new and untouched. He went through them anyway, rubbing a hand over his face when it turned up to be another fruitless search. Nothing of interest aside from half a pack of Marlboro’s. Nothing actually helpful. He knew they had to pursue all possible leads, but he couldn’t help but wonder if Hopper had sent him here just to get him away from the hospital for awhile. 

He’d spent the night in the chair beside Max’s bed, dozing off until he’d heard her crying quietly around 2 in the morning. She’d claimed it was pain from her broken ribs, but Steve wasn’t that naive. He’d just gone along with it because she didn’t want to talk. After that they’d watched late night tv programming until she’d finally fallen asleep around 5. Steve never went back to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was the kid in bed beside him being held down and crying as the two older boys raped her. 

Hop’d swung back through before 7 to relieve Rogers of watching Billy’s room, and had put Steve on the mission at the school, which now had proven fruitless, and it also meant that Max was there _alone_ , which is the last thing she needed. He was angry with her mother for not being there, for choosing her husband over her own daughter. He was angry with Hopper for forcing him to leave at all. He was angry at Tommy and Billy for what they’d done. But most of all, Steve was angry at himself for not putting the pieces together months ago. 

Because he hadn’t, Max had gotten hurt. 

And it wasn’t even close to over yet.

***

If anything, Max’s entire body hurt more when she woke up later that morning. The slightest movement caused pain to lick up and down her ribcage. The pain was so intense that she had trouble just breathing through it, and Max had become _accustomed_ to being in pain. 

“Would you like a drink?” 

She started at the unfamiliar voice and she found herself staring at a dark-haired girl she’d never seen before. “Who are you?” Already she was reaching out to push her nurse call button but it was farther away then she could easily reach in her position and she flinched back when the girl rose to her feet, moved closer and pushed it for her. 

“Kali. You’re friends with my sister. I believe you call her Eleven.” 

Max slumped at the explanation. “Jane. I call her Jane.” 

A smile tugged at the older girl’s mouth. “I prefer that, too.” She sat back down in the chair beside Max’s bed. “Jane and her...father...requested I stay with you for the time being.” 

She closed her eyes, pressing one hand to her stomach as the pain flared again. “Yeah, I guess everyone’s afraid I’ll skip out or something,” she said wryly as she opened her eyes again. And considering she’d been trying to run away just the night before last, she supposed there was at least understandable cause for concern.

“Jane’s worried about you.” Kali cocked her head, studying her. “You don’t remember me from yesterday morning, do you?” 

Max held her breath momentarily. “No. But...my friend said you were the one who found me and Billy.” Her gaze dropped. “That you called for help.” 

“Yes. You told me that Billy had a gun.” She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. 

Before she could respond, a nurse entered the room, carrying a clipboard and smiling at them. “Well, good morning. How are you feeling this morning?” 

“Shitty,” Max mumbled, closing her eyes. 

She tsked, but shook a bottle of pills. “Now there’s no need for that kind of language, Miss Mayfield. But I can give you something for the pain, considering it’s been a few hours since your last dose.” 

“Great.” Max swallowed down the pills the blonde held out, reaching for the cup of water and downing it, too.

“I’ll be back to check your vitals shortly,” she told her before heading back out of the room. 

“Broken ribs are a real bitch.” 

Max looked over at Kali, vague surprise flickering through her and her expression echoing the sentiment. 

“Long story,” Kali said with a wave of her hand. “You’ll have to take it easy until they’re fully healed or you won’t heal right. Then it’ll take even longer to be back to normal.” 

“Why are you telling me this?” she asked, shaking her head a little. 

“Because you seem like the kind of girl who doesn’t let much hold her down for long,” she responded matter-of-factly. 

If Kali only knew how wrong she was about that, Max thought, shifting as much as she dared in the uncomfortable hospital bed as she searched the older girl’s face. She was pretty. Really pretty. But there was something haunted behind her eyes that Max could relate to and she didn’t want to know why. She dropped her gaze, shifting slightly in the bed to try and sit up a little more. 

“Here.” Kali rose to her feet, moving to help her adjust her pillows, and also to reset the bed’s incline a little more. “Better?” 

“Thank you,” she said, nodding. 

“I hate hospitals.” 

She watched the purple-haired girl move over to look out the window. “Yeah, that...makes sense.” She didn’t know the specifics of what she or Jane had gone through at Hawkins Institute, but she knew a lot of it involved medical testing. She was also pretty certain none of it had been a good time for her or Jane. Or anyone else, for that matter. Truthfully, she did her best not to think about it, mostly because her imagination was far too vivid and she had enough of her own problems to deal with that she didn’t need to spend a lot of time imagining someone else’s all the time. 

Kali glanced at her over her shoulder. “You can rest if you’d like.” 

“You seriously don’t have to stick around. I’m not going to take off.” Not now, anyway. Billy was being guarded down the hall, and she had no doubt that Steve would be returning sooner rather than later. Plus Kali already expressed her hatred of hospitals. 

“Neither am I,” she responded, arching her eyebrows.  
A tiny smile tugged at Max’s mouth almost involuntarily. Apparently stubbornness ran in the family. “To be honest, I’m kind of tired of sleeping. Well. At least until this pain pill kicks in, anyway.” She sighed. 

“All right. Then let’s play a game. I’ve heard that’s your area of expertise.” 

Max eyed her warily. “What game?” 

Kali reached into her pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. “Poker.” She rolled Max’s tray so it was closer to both of them and started shuffling the cards. “Do you know how to play?” 

“Yes.” Her voice was quiet. “My dad taught me. A long time ago.” She didn’t look at the other girl, didn’t notice the way her smile grew at Max’s admission. 

“How’s your poker face?” she asked casually.

Max couldn’t help but smirk at that, meeting her gaze. “Let’s just say I’ve really perfected it over the last year.” 

“Then let’s see what you’ve got.” 

 

***

To say that Lucas didn’t want to be at school that morning was a massive understatement. The only reason he hadn’t skipped was because he had two finals to take. He wasn’t even sure how he was supposed to concentrate considering the girl he loved was injured and in the hospital, and that her psycho of a brother was an actual _murderer._ And said murderer happened to be just down the hall from Max’s _room_ and even though the sheriff’s department was keeping an eye on him so he couldn’t take off, he still felt uncomfortable at the thought of Billy’s close proximity to Max. 

He hated everything about the entire situation. 

He hadn’t gotten much sleep the previous night, between trying to cram for finals and worrying about Max. He finished his algebra final and headed to the library, straight to the back of the place where Max usually camped out if she was skipping class, or if she was studying before or after school. 

He didn’t have a final in the next two classes, so he blew them off, cramming for the advanced chemistry final instead, and trying his best to ignore all thoughts about everything else. He just had to get through his next final and then he could dwell, and think, and maybe even plot. He knew, in the back of his mind, that between what was going on with Billy and what was going on with Max’s stepdad, that her going home might not be the best idea. Her relationship with her mom had always been a bit rocky, and no doubt it was going to be even rockier now. He didn’t think her mom would _hurt_ her, but physical pain wasn’t the only kind of pain there was, either. 

Shaking off his thoughts once more, he forced himself to focus on his notes from the past couple of months and when the bell finally rang, he felt like he was _mostly_ prepared for the exam. He was halfway to class when he spotted Troy and James leaning against the lockers near Max’s. James spotted him and elbowed Troy, making both of them smirk. Shaking his head and determined to ignore them, he continued toward his chem class. Not unexpectedly, Troy stepped directly in his path, halting his progress. 

He pressed his lips together, repressing his urge to sigh. “What do you want?” 

“Tommy told us your girlfriend gives great head. Mind if I go visit her at the hospital?” 

Lucas tensed, narrowing his eyes. “Don’t,” he warned. 

“Yeah? What are you gonna do about it, Midnight? Harrington isn’t here to be your bodyguard now, and I know you don’t have the balls to do anything about it. Hell, Ginger Snap’s got more balls than you do,” James cut in, snickering. 

He gritted his teeth together, forcing himself to take a deep breath before moving to go around the pair of bullies, but once more Troy stepped in front of him. 

“What do you _want_?” Lucas demanded, glaring at him. 

“I want to hear you say you know your girl’s a slut,” he responded with raised eyebrows. “Everyone in the school knows it. So let’s hear you confirm it, Sinclair.” 

“Fuck you, Troy,” he bit out, hands curling into fists at his sides. 

“Hey, my name isn’t Max Mayf--” Before Troy had a chance to finish, Lucas’ fist had connected with his jaw. He barely noticed the crowd that had gathered around. Troy was sprawled out on the ground, staring up at him in disbelief, but he only had a second to realize that before James barrelled at him full-force, shoving him hard into the nearest locker. 

“That was dumb,” he growled. 

“Oh _shit_ ,” someone exclaimed as James was pulled off him and he found himself staring at Mike and Dustin. The latter threw his books onto the floor. 

“All right, I’m sick and tired of your _bullshit!_ ” He yelled. 

And then all hell broke loose. 

***

Will was anxious. 

Anxiety wasn’t exactly anything that was new to him. He’d always been an anxious kid, but the last couple of years brought an all new meaning to the word _hypervigilance._ He knew it wasn’t just him -- it affected his mom, as well, and Jonathan and Mike to an extent, too. Probably more than he realized, given the circumstances. 

But the last couple of days his anxiety had a different cause. One that had nothing to do with the Upside Down, or the Mind Flayer or demogorgans, or even his dad. It had to do with a friend who had been in trouble, had obviously been in trouble for _awhile_ now, and hadn’t told any of them a thing until she was in the hospital. And he had a deep, unsettled feeling that kept telling him it wasn’t over yet. And of course, it wasn’t. 

If Billy had murdered Tommy -- and he didn’t doubt it for a second -- he had no idea what that would mean for Max and her family. The fact that her stepdad had also been arrested weighed heavily on his mind. He was certain his other friends were thrown by that revelation, with the possible exception of Lucas, of course. He was, after all, the person closest to Max. Will liked to believe he was a close second, though. He’d known for awhile that things at Max’s house weren’t great. She would show up at his house unannounced to do homework or just hang out way more than anyone who had a _stable_ home life probably would, and he wasn’t terribly surprised to learn that Billy wasn’t the only bad person in her life. She’d never said much about Neil Hargrove, but Will was observant. He could put things together pretty quickly. It was why he’d never tried questioning her about it. He’d been afraid that asking her about it too specifically would make her uncomfortable. That she might choose to stay in her house the next time things got bad instead of coming over to his house. 

Not that she’d been there much recently. That alone was telling. Even his mom and Jonathan had noticed her absence. 

He sat through the remainder of his English class, relieved the day was over and he could regroup with the Party, and go visit Max at the hospital. He knew Steve was up there, had heard his mom and Hopper talking on the phone the previous night and knew that El had also asked Kali to stay just in case. He didn’t know Kali very well yet, but he liked her. She was...different. 

And so was Will. 

As soon as the bell rang, he headed for his locker, shoving his things inside except for the book he’d need to study for his last final tomorrow. He slid that into his bookbag and closed the locker door, glancing around and frowning when he didn’t see any of the others. His frown only deepened when he made it all the way to the bike rack, found all of their bicycles there, but no sign of his friends. He leaned against the rack, setting his bag on the ground for the time being, and watching as other kids filtered out of the building. 

Will wasn’t one to normally eavesdrop on other people’s conversations, but when he heard Lucas’ name along with “Troy” and “fight” from a couple of juniors that walked by talking excitedly, his heart sank a little. That wasn’t good. It couldn’t be good. Nothing involving Troy Ellis ever was. 

He drew in a deep breath, glancing toward the parking lot, scooping his bag up and heading back toward the school entrance. His fingers tightened around his backpack straps as he neared the principal’s office and found all three of his friends lined up in the chairs outside of it. Lucas had a swollen lip. Mike had a black eye. And Dustin’s knuckles were bloodied. 

“What _happened?_ ” he asked, wide-eyed. 

“Troy and James happened,” Mike mumbled, slumping farther down in his chair. 

Will shifted his gaze to Lucas. 

“He was mouthing off about Max,” he admitted after a moment. “I punched him.” 

“And then we kicked their _asses_ ,” Dustin informed his friend with raised eyebrows, hint of a smile tugging at his mouth. 

“Dustin _wailed_ on James,” Mike told him. 

“And now we’re all stuck in detention every day next week,” Lucas said glumly. 

“And I’m probably grounded for the rest of my life.” 

Will moved to sit down on Mike’s other side, patting his shoulder sympathetically and causing the other boy to give him a tiny smile. “Actually, I think my mom’s going to understand,” he assured him. 

“Not sure mine will,” Dustin admitted. 

“They’ve been bullying us since we were nine years old,” Lucas pointed out. “We might get a pass on this. Maybe.” He sighed and laid his head back against the wall. 

“I gotta wait for my mom to pick me up before I can go anywhere,” Dustin told them, glancing at the other three boys. 

“Me too.” Lucas didn’t look happy about it. 

“Jonathan’s probably waiting. We’ll fill Max in when we get there,” Mike told them as he rose to his feet. Will did the same, nodding emphatically. 

“It’ll be okay.” 

“Wait.” Lucas’ voice was urgent. “Don’t tell her they were talking about her. She’ll be upset that we got in a fight over stupid rumors.” 

“Lucas. Friends don’t lie,” Dustin said, frowning. 

“It’s not a lie. It’s just...an omission of fact,” he argued. “She has enough going on already, guys.” 

Mike and Will exchanged a look, and reluctantly, Mike nodded, clearly not thrilled to have to keep secrets from someone in the Party. “Okay. We’ll just tell her Troy and James were acting like themselves,” he said. “It’ll be fine.” 

Lucas held his gaze for a long moment, then nodded his head, letting his eyes drift shut. 

Will wished there was something he could say or do that might make him feel better, but somehow he was pretty sure there wasn’t. He didn’t know how to make anything better for anyone lately. 

And he knew better than most that sometimes, there was nothing to be done. 

***

Steve knew it was a terrible idea when Rogers asked him to keep an eye on Billy while he took a quick lunch break, but he found himself saying yes anyway. He knew Hopper would be _pissed_ , but Steve wasn’t exactly happy with Hopper at the moment either, considering hours had passed and he hadn’t heard a word from the chief since early that morning. 

Unable to stop himself, he pushed open the door to the room just to make sure Billy was really still _there._ He was sitting up in bed, smoking a cigarette with a sour look on his face, but his demeanor changed when he spotted Steve. “Well, well, well. Miss me, Harrington?” 

“Never,” Steve responded flatly, turning to step back outside and just stand guard in the hallway. 

“They put _you_ in charge of me? Really?” Billy chuckled. “They do know even with a broken arm, I could kick your ass, right?” 

He knew he should ignore the other man. That he should walk away and just keep watch. 

No one ever accused him of making fantastic life decisions. He let the door go closed, and he turned to face Billy once again, expression stony. “Come at me,” he said, voice quiet. _Give me a reason to shoot you._

Billy arched his eyebrows. “Even I’m not that stupid.” 

“Oh, don’t sell yourself short. I wouldn’t underestimate your own stupidity if I was you,” Steve responded, leaning against the wall by the door. 

“I know what you’re doing. Trying to goad me into fighting you, give you a reason to use that gun on me.” Billy smirked. “You even know how to handle that thing? I got my doubts.” He took a long drag off his cigarette and flicked ashes into the tray on the rolling cart by his bed. 

“Won’t have to. You’re going away for the rest of your life, and then you’ll only wish I’d put you out of your misery.” Steve was proud of how calm his voice was. 

“Sounding pretty confident there, _Officer._ I wouldn’t hedge my bets.” 

“We already searched your house. Found plenty of evidence.” Steve watched Billy as he paused, then turned his head to look directly at him. 

“Yeah? And what exactly did you find?” There was something in the other man’s voice that set his nerves on edge. 

He lifted his chin, holding Billy’s intent stare with one of his own. “You know _exactly_ what we found, you piece of shit,” he said lowly. “And one way or another you’re not going to get by with what you’ve done to her.” 

A slow smile spread across Billy’s face and he sat up a little more, taking another drag off his cigarette before setting it in the ashtray and exhaling the puff of smoke. “Trust me, Harrington. She enjoyed it. I made sure of that every time.” 

This had been a mistake. Steve’s jaw tightened involuntarily, his hands curling into fists at his sides. 

“Fuck, I’ve never been inside a girl that tight before. But I’m sure you know exactly what I mean by now.” 

“Shut your mouth,” he ordered, disgust churning in his stomach. 

“Can’t wait to get my hands on her again. ‘s like a craving now, ya know? Can’t go too long without it. And her ass? Even tighter. Christ. She likes being tied up so she can’t move too much. Lets me do anything I want to her. Your favorite little redhead’s feisty as hell in bed.” 

Steve’s mind flashed back to the video he’d seen, of Billy pinning her hands down with his knees while Tommy was between her legs and he had to close his eyes for a second to get rid of the image. “I said _shut up!_ ” 

“And don’t get me started on how talented she is with her mouth --” 

“I’m gonna kill you,” Steve said darkly, taking a step forward only to be halted by a hand gripping onto his arm from behind. He turned to look, expecting to see Hopper, but instead there was a pretty girl with olive skin and dark hair with purple streaks holding tightly onto his arm. Distantly he remembered seeing her at the crash site the morning of the wreck.

“Walk away,” she said quietly, voice intense. Knowing. 

He stared at her, trying to find his voice to tell her he could handle himself just fine, but she squeezed his arm gently, tugging him toward the door without letting him argue. Steve allowed her to pull him out of the room, gritting his teeth at the sound of Billy’s laughter behind him. 

“Who the hell are you?” 

She cocked her head to the side. “Kali. Jane’s sister.” 

All the air rushed out of his lungs. Kali. Right. Dustin had mentioned her the night before, but he’d only been half paying attention. There had been too much happening. He raked a hand through his hair, leaning against the wall by the room’s entrance. “What are you doing? I’m a police officer. I was interviewing --” 

“You were being taunted,” she corrected with arched eyebrows. “He was getting to you and you were giving him exactly what he wanted.” 

“You don’t know what he’s done,” he muttered. 

“I have a pretty good idea,” she responded, expression darkening as she looked toward the room. “How long has he been hurting her?” 

Steve swallowed heavily, dropping his gaze. “I don’t know. Awhile. Months.” 

“He deserves to die.” 

“Then why did you stop me?”  
Kali rolled her eyes. “Because you’d end up in prison and how do you think that would make Maxine feel?” 

“Don’t call her that. She hates it. It’s Max,” he corrected her, folding his arms across his chest. 

“Max,” she echoed, nodding. “She was having a nightmare. She woke up crying. It took awhile to get her to calm down.” 

Steve’s stomach twisted. “This isn’t fucking fair,” he whispered harshly. “He’s the one who’s been -- _raping_ her and she’s the one having nightmares. It’s _bullshit_. And we don’t even know if we’ll have enough evidence to lock him up.” He wanted to hit something. 

Kali stepped closer to him, looking up at him with an intense gaze. “One way or another, he’ll get what he deserves.” 

***

Mike was _super_ glad that he was staying at the Byers’ house and not his own, because his mom probably really would have grounded him forever for fighting at school. He wondered if she had any idea her boyfriend had been accused of _murder._ He left Will in the waiting room of the hospital and made his way to the elevator, nodding at Steve on his way and riding up to the next floor where the vending machines were. 

He bought a pack of M&Ms to share with his friends and then headed down the hallway, taking the elevator back down and peeking in on Max on the way. She was curled up on her side facing the door, eyes closed but troubled expression on her face as she slept. His chest tightened a little at the sight. Max wasn’t someone he was used to seeing vulnerable or hurt. It was weird. It made him feel uneasy and helpless in a way that he hated, like the way he’d felt when Will had gone missing two years before.

He watched for a moment, deciding against waking her and heading back toward the waiting room, pausing in his tracks when he heard a familiar voice whisper, “ _You don’t know what he’s done.”_

He couldn’t hear the response, but he edged closer, straining to listen to the conversation. 

_“He deserves to die._ ” He knew that voice, too. Kali. He frowned deeply, wondering if they were talking about Billy. 

_“Then why did you stop me?”_

_“Because you’d end up in prison and how do you think that would make Maxine feel?”_

_“Don’t call her that. She hates it. It’s Max,”_ Mike heard Steve correct her and he couldn’t help but smirk.

_“Max. She was having a nightmare. She woke up crying. It took awhile to get her to calm down.”_

Mike looked back toward the room where Max lay sleeping, wondering if maybe he should check on her after all. Or maybe go get Will. It wasn’t like he and Max were _close._. But Steve’s next words stopped him cold. 

_“This isn’t fucking fair. He’s the one who’s been --_ raping _her and she’s the one having nightmares. It’s_ bullshit _. And we don’t even know if we’ll have enough evidence to lock him up.”_

All the air left Mike’s lungs, the color draining from his face. He didn’t hear Kali’s response to that. 

He leaned heavily against the wall, clutching onto the package of M&Ms. He suddenly had no appetite. 

***

Hopper glanced sideways at Jane as he parked his truck at the hospital. “This shouldn’t take long. You can stay in the truck if you’re tired.” 

“Wanna see my friends,” she responded, even if she _was_ tired. She hadn’t _over-extended_ herself today but she’d definitely used her powers more than she had been recently, and it wore her out. Still. She wasn’t going to sit in the truck when Hopper went in to break the news. She had been a part of it. She wanted to be there. She reached for the handle, pulling on it and sliding out of the truck’s passenger side, closing the door behind her. 

He waited at the front of the truck for her, then walked beside her as they approached the emergency room entrance. She sneaked a glance up and almost smiled at the determined expression on his face. She grew serious once more as she followed him toward the elevators up to the second floor waiting room, where Will and Joyce Byers were sitting. They both stood up when they saw her and Hopper approaching. 

“Is it done?” Joyce asked, searching Hopper’s face.

He gave a short nod. “She found him. There’s an excavation team at the site now,” he told them, voice hushed. 

“Wait, Tommy?” Will’s eyes grew wide as he looked between them and El nodded quickly, giving him a tiny faint smile. 

“Official story is it came in as an anonymous tip this morning,” he said with arched eyebrows, looking back at Will. 

Will nodded instantly. “Right.” 

Joyce stepped closer to Hopper, reaching out and resting a hand on El’s shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze. “Is there enough to arrest him?” 

“Soon,” he responded and Eleven leaned against Hopper, eyelids drooping. 

“Okay, Kid. I let you come in, but it’s time to sit.” He guided her over to a chair and she slumped into it tiredly, leaning her head back against the wall. 

“Wanna see Max,” she complained. 

“Later,” he told her, giving her one of _those_ looks. “I’ll check on her for you and tell her you said hi.” 

Eleven huffed, folding her arms across her chest but feeling too wiped to really argue with him about it. Finally she nodded, letting her eyes close. She would talk to Max later, after she napped for awhile. There would be plenty of time, she was sure. 

***

Max spent a good ten minutes arguing with the nurse about whether or not she could walk on her own to the bathroom which was less than fifteen feet away. In the end, she got her way, walking slowly to the bathroom and closing the door behind her, rolling her eyes at the woman’s insistence she leave the door unlocked just in case she got dizzy and fell. Admittedly, being on her feet for the first time in a couple days made her feel a little nauseated, but being able to actually go to the bathroom without help was more than worth it. 

She used the bathroom and washed her hands, pausing and staring at herself in the mirror. Her face was a couple shades paler than usual, a large dark blue and purple bruise mottling her forehead. Beneath that was a deep gash that had been stitched up. She grimaced, tucking some of her hair behind her ears and leaning against the sink. 

She looked awful, like death warmed over. Her frame was gaunt, her eyes exhausted. She _was_ exhausted. She wondered, not for the first time recently, why on earth Lucas was with her and not someone like Marie Farrington. At least Marie didn’t look like a ghost. Even before the wreck she knew that the stress was taking its toll on her. She’d lost weight she couldn’t really afford to lose, but it was difficult to force yourself to eat when you had no appetite to speak of. 

“Maxine, are you all right?” the nurse called outside and she glared at the door. 

“It’s _Max_ and I’m fine,” she responded. She sighed softly and reluctantly opened the door so the dark-haired woman could see she was all right. “See? Not on the floor. Not dizzy.” She waited for the nurse to back up a little before she moved over to sink down into the recliner beside the hospital bed. 

The nurse, Lisa, frowned at her, but said nothing about her choice of seat. Instead, she sat down on the edge of Max’s bed as she flipped through her medical chart. “Well, good news is that it looks like as long as you do well through the night tonight, the doctor will probably release you tomorrow.” 

Her eyes lit up, a smile spreading across her face at that news. Until she realized what it meant: going back to her house, with a mother who definitely hated her now. A lump formed in her throat but she kept the smile on her face. “Great!” Her voice was much more chipper than she actually felt. 

Lisa didn’t seem to notice anything wrong, simply smiled and nodded, noting something in her chart and rising to her feet once more. “I’ll be back to check on you in awhile.” 

“Thanks,” she said, watching her go before leaning back against the recliner and letting the smile slip from her face. She rubbed a hand over her face before letting it rest against her stomach absently. She had almost dozed off again when she heard footsteps approaching, and she couldn’t stop herself from tensing. 

“Hey, Kid.” Hopper’s voice was gruff and quiet at the same time. “How are you doing?” 

“I’m fine,” she answered without missing a beat. “Looks like I’m getting sprung tomorrow.” 

“That right?” He frowned. 

“That’s what they say.” She shrugged, proud she sounded as nonchalant as she wanted. She’d gotten great at pretending, at fooling everyone around her.

“And you’re planning on going home with your mom?” Hopper questioned, studying her intently. 

Except she wasn’t so great at pulling off the facade with Hopper, apparently. Or possibly he just knew too much, knew all the reasons she dreaded going back to her house. “I guess.” 

“You have other options,” he stated, arching his eyebrows.  


She dropped her gaze, plucking at a string on her hospital gown. “I think I’ve already caused enough chaos for everyone, don’t you?” Her voice dropped, that lump in her throat growing and she had the sudden realization she was dangerously close to _crying._ She did _not_ want to cry in front of Chief Hopper. 

“Is that what you think? Kid, you didn’t cause anything,” he told her, moving to sit down on the bed. “Not a damn thing.” He was silent for a moment. “We found Tommy’s body.” 

Max froze, and then slowly lifted her head to stare at him with watery eyes. “You did?” 

“Jane did,” he clarified, nodding and holding her gaze. 

“So then...I might not have to --” 

“Unless he winds up taking a plea from the DA, they’ll probably still want you to testify. But it might be months from now,” Hopper told her. 

“Is he already in custody?” 

“Unofficially. As soon as the doctor releases him, he’ll be heading to lockup.” 

She swallowed hard, nodding and leaning her head back against the headrest of the recliner, feeling a little dazed by that information. “And the rest of what happened?” 

Hopper sighed and looked down. “I’ll do my best to keep it under wraps,” he said quietly. “But for the record, what happened _wasn’t_ your fault. You’re just a _kid._ ” 

“I don’t really feel like it,” she admitted. She hadn’t felt like a kid in months now. She felt like she’d aged twenty years. Like she was an entirely different person than she’d been all those months and weeks ago after that party. “Are the others here?”

He looked at her once more. “Jane and Will and Joyce are all in the waiting room, but I’m gonna be taking Jane home. She’s pretty exhausted.” 

“Thank her for me?” Her voice was barely audible. 

“Of course. She wanted to come visit but she was dead on her feet. She’s probably passed out now,” he admitted with a small smile. He rose to his feet. “I’ll be back in the morning. You try and take it easy, okay?” 

“They won’t let me do anything else,” Max responded with raised eyebrows. 

He smirked. “Good.” He headed for the door and she watched him go, chewing her lower lip before rising to her feet and moving to get into the bed. She moved carefully, wincing as her ribs ached and wondering when her next dose of pain meds were coming. Soon, hopefully. 

Max just wanted to sleep for the next hundred years.

***

“Wake up, Max.” 

She stirred at the sound of the familiar voice, eyebrows furrowing as she blinked herself awake, wondering what time it was. “Mom?” 

Susan Hargrove held a duffle bag in her left hand, moving over to set it atop the bedcovers. “You need to get dressed. We’re leaving now.” 

Max rubbed at her eyes as she sat up slowly, feeling like there were cobwebs in her brain. “The doctor’s releasing me? What time is it?” 

“Almost nine,” her mother answered, unzipping the bag and pulling out a pair of jeans and a shirt and holding them out to her. “Get dressed.” 

She looked from the clothes to her mom, her stomach twisting. “It’s late.” 

“I’ve got a judge who’s agreed to hear Neil’s case tonight, but we have to go,” she explained. 

Max stared at her, wondering if she’d forgotten their ill-fated conversation from the previous day. “And you want me to come with you because you think I’ll tell the judge that the allegations are false.” She was out of it, but not out of it enough to be unable put the pieces together. 

“Max, I need you to get ready. There isn’t much time,” she said urgently, thrusting the clothes out toward her once more. 

She took them wordlessly and slowly lowered them to the bed before looking back up at her mom. 

“I’ll give you a couple of minutes to get changed.” 

“I’m not coming.” Her voice was hushed. 

Already halfway toward the door, the older redhead froze in her steps. “What?” 

“I said I’m not coming. I’m not going with you to lie to a judge about Neil.” Her voice was unsteady. 

Her mother turned to face her once more, and this time anger flashed in her eyes. “You’ll do as I say because you are a _minor_ and I am your _parent_!” she snapped. 

Before Max had a chance to response, a voice near the door interrupted and her heart leapt into her throat, tears springing to her eyes. 

“Maybe. But you’re not her _only_ parent.” David Mayfield stepped into the room, stony expression on his face as he regarded his ex-wife. 

“Dad,” she whispered almost inaudibly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...sorry for the SUPER long delay. Hopefully I'm back on track with things now. This story has gone completely off the outline that I'd initially made but I guess it is what it is.


	4. Chapter 4

“Hi, Sweetheart.” 

Max struggled to sit up in bed as her dad stepped into the hospital room and moved toward her bed, leaning down and pressing a kiss to her forehead. “What are you doing here?” she asked, wrapping her arms around him in a hug that he returned immediately, albeit very carefully. 

“I got a phone call this morning from somebody named Steve? Said he was a deputy here in Hawkins and that you’d been in a pretty bad accident.” 

_Steve._ Of course. She had no idea how he’d managed to find her dad’s number but she was so relieved he had that her tear-filled eyes spilled over. Thank God for Steve.

He pulled away to look at her, worry riddled all over his face as he studied her. “What happened, Max?” he asked, sitting down on the edge of her bed and deliberately ignoring the way Susan was standing a few feet away, arms folded across her face and jaw tight with annoyance. 

Max swiped the tears off her cheeks quickly, not wanting to breakdown in front of her mom right now. Or ever, for that matter. She raked a hand through her hair. “Just a car wreck,” she responded, not looking at her mom.

David Mayfield pressed his lips together and searched her eyes before turning his gaze to look at his ex-wife. “I’d like some time alone with my daughter, if you don’t mind.” It wasn’t phrased as a question so much as a firm statement. 

“I do mind, actually,” Susan replied. “She’s my daughter, too.” 

“Mom. Please.” Max looked over at her, holding her breath. 

“Fine. We’ll talk later,” she informed them both, clearly unhappy by this turn of events. But without waiting for a response, she headed out of the room, heels clicking on the tile floor. Max closed her eyes, exhaling slowly before opening them once more to look at her dad. 

“I can’t believe you’re here.” 

His expression softened. “Of course I’m here. Sweetheart, you should have called me right away. I would have been here. As soon as that deputy filled me in, I drove to the airport and bought a ticket.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “The plane just left a few hours ago and I had a layover in Chicago. I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner.” 

Max smiled despite the fact more tears were glittering in her eyes. She wasn’t sure she was ever going to see him again, really. Between Billy and Neil, and her own decision to runaway, she’d been wondering if she’d ever be _allowed_ to see him again. She nodded at his words. “It’s okay.” She twisted her fingers together in her lap, looking down at them. “Dad, there’s so much you don’t know.” Her voice was barely a whisper. There was so much he _couldn’t_ know. That no one else could. But some of it...some of it was going to be public knowledge and it would be better for him to hear that from her than someone else. 

“I’m sure there is,” he said quietly. “And you can tell me all about it in the morning, after you’ve gotten a good night’s rest.” 

Max glanced over her shoulder toward the door. “Mom wanted me to --” 

“I heard. I don’t know _exactly_ what I heard, but I know enough to know that you’re not leaving this hospital until a doctor releases you,” David informed her, arching his eyebrows. “So why don’t you lie back down and you rest while I go talk to your mother.” 

She reached out, grasping onto his wrist. “No, I need to tell you before you hear it from her,” she said urgently. 

“Max.” His voice dropped. “The deputy told me there was a murder investigation happening involving Billy.” 

All the air left her lungs and she swallowed heavily, loosening her grip on his wrist. 

“I don’t know everything that’s happened, but I know you, and I know your mother well enough to know when she’s telling me the truth and when she’s trying to defend her new husband and stepson.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead. “So lie down and sleep. We’ll talk in the morning. Okay?” 

She bit her lower lip and nodded, watching as he rose to his feet and moved toward the door. “Dad?” 

“Yeah?” He turned to look at her. 

“I’m really glad you’re here,” she whispered. 

***

David stode down the hall toward the waiting area, knowing he would find his ex-wife there, and sure enough, she sat in the corner, looking more than a tad angry. That was fine. He could deal with her anger. As soon as she spotted him, she rose to her feet, her eyes narrowed and glare already in place. “Susan, so nice to see you again,” he said before she could say anything. 

Her eyes narrowed even more. “I don’t know what exactly you thought you were going to do by coming here, but --” 

“I came to be here for my _daughter._ ” He leaned against the wall beside where the television was set. “And honestly, I’m disappointed that Max was hurt this badly and it never occurred to you to even _call_ and let me know. I had to find out from a stranger.” 

“It was a minor car accident,” Susan began. 

“She has broken _ribs_!” 

She pressed her lips together. “Honestly, there was no reason for you to come all this way, David. Max is being released in the morning, and she’s going to be just fine.” 

“And what did I hear about you trying to get Max to lie to a judge about Neil?” 

Her green eyes darkened. “I wasn’t trying to get her to _lie_ about anything. I simply wanted her to speak to the judge about something that isn’t any of your concern.” 

David pushed himself away from the wall, raking a hand through his dark brown hair. “Anything that concerns my daughter and her well-being concerns _me_. I’m her dad. You used to understand that, even when we were separated. Has Neil brainwashed you this badly?” 

Susan’s back stiffened. “Watch what you say about my husband,” she answered. “He hasn’t brainwashed anyone.” 

“Then why don’t you fill me in on _exactly_ why your husband’s been arrested and why you wanted our daughter to talk to a judge on his behalf,” he said evenly. 

She was silent for a long moment. “There’s been a grave misunderstanding, that’s all. The local chief of police seems to think that Neil is a child abuser, and he’s _not._ ” 

David narrowed his eyes. “Why would the local chief of police think that in the first place?” 

Before she had a chance to respond, there was movement from the corner of his eye and a young man in a deputy’s uniformed appeared, his own expression serious, grim. “That would be because the doctors who examined Max and Billy found a lot of scars and bruises all over them indicative of long-term, ongoing abuse,” the man answered, and Susan glared at him. 

David turned to look at him, jaw tensing, and then he glanced at his ex-wife again. “I swear to God, Susan, if your husband’s been abusing Max, I’m going to take you to court and sue for full custody,” he said darkly. 

Her eyes widened at the threat. “You can’t be _serious._ ” 

He took a step closer to her. “I’ve never been more serious in my life.”

Susan stared at him for a long moment, then turned and stormed away, high heels clicking loudly on the tile floor. 

He didn’t watch her go, too busy trying to absorb the information the young officer had just supplied him with. He turned slowly to face him. 

“You must be Mr. Mayfield. I’m -- Steve. Harrington.” He held a hand out toward him and David drew in a slow breath before shaking it. “We spoke on the phone this morning.” 

“Yes, of course. Thank you, Deputy,” he said, nodding slightly. “For calling me.” 

“Max needed you,” he told David, looking hesitant. “Needs.” He looked down at the floor. “Max needs you.” 

The look on the younger man’s face left him feeling uneasy, wary. Like there was still a lot more to all of this that he didn’t know about. “I don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.” 

Steve looked up at that, studying him intently for a long moment, scrutinizing. Like he was trying to make sure David was someone he could trust. No, he realized, taking in the intensity in the officer’s eyes. Making sure he was someone that _Max_ could trust. What the hell had happened in the last few months that his daughter was apparently so familiar with a deputy on the police force?

He had a feeling none of the answers he was going to get over the next few hours and days were going to be ones he would be happy to hear. 

He was going to need coffee. And a lot of it. 

***

Mike hadn’t slept at all. In his sleeping bag in Will’s room the entire night, he’d tossed and turned, closing his eyes and trying to think about something other than the conversation he’d overheard between Steve and Kali, and yet. 

And yet it was the _only_ thing he could think about. 

_”He’s the one who’s been raping her.”_

He hadn’t even been able to go into the room to check on her after that. He’d been too caught up in trying to process what he’d heard, and by the time he’d processed it enough, Will’s mom had come to pick them up for the night. He felt like such a coward. 

God. He’d been such an asshole to her the last few days. Logically he knew none of this was his fault. That responsibility lay solely with Billy Hargrove. But Mike always felt things with his heart no matter how logical he tried to be about everything. It was just who he was. So knowing how badly he’d been treating Max and now knowing what she’d been dealing with -- for who even knew how long -- he felt like a horrible person. He _was_ a horrible person. 

Which was why when 6:30 in the morning rolled around, he scribbled out a note for Will and his mom, and quietly crept out of the house, peddling his bike all the way to Hawkins General. Visiting hours didn’t technically begin until 8, but it wouldn’t be the first rule he’d broken this week. Frankly breaking the rules was something he did so often these days that no matter how much of a “good kid” he was, he wondered if he’d end up in jail at some point in the future. 

He was pretty sure if he did, El would end up breaking him out. 

Mike secured his bike to the bike post outside the hospital and headed inside, scrambling past the front desk while the receptionist was on the phone. He made his way down the hall toward Max’s room, pausing when he spotted an unfamiliar man slumped in a chair at her bedside. For a moment, he simply stood still, frozen in place. 

“Mike?” Max’s voice was sleepy as she slowly lifted her head as if sensing him there. At the sound of her voice, the man behind her stirred and blinked a few times. 

“Hi,” he said, suddenly feeling more than a little awkward. “Uh, should I come back later?” 

She rubbed a hand over her face and glanced at the man to her left, then back at him. “No, it’s fine. This is -- my dad.” 

_”Oh._ ” He took a hesitant step into the room. “Hey, Mr. Mayfield. I’m Mike Wheeler.” 

“He’s a friend of mine,” Max explained, struggling to sit up more and wincing in obvious pain as she did so. 

“Hello, Mike,” the older man greeted him with a nod, grimacing as he sat up, as well, but probably because he had a cramp in his neck and not because he had any broken bones. 

“I...wanted to check on you,” Mike explained, looking down at the floor and holding his breath. 

Her dad rose to his feet slowly, pressing both hands behind his back as if trying to work out the knots there. “I’ll let you two talk. I’m going to grab some coffee,” he told Max, reaching out and squeezing her hand. “I’ll be back shortly.” 

“Okay. Thanks, Dad,” she murmured, and Mike stepped aside to let him pass, waiting until her dad had headed down the hall before he slowly moved to sit in the chair beside her bed. 

“I didn’t know your dad was here,” he told her. 

“He got in last night.” Max looked down at the thin blanket covering her, plucking absently at the strings. “Steve called him.” 

“That’s good, though. Right? I mean, that he’s here?” 

“Yeah, it’s good. It’s...a relief,” she admitted, faint smile touching her mouth. She turned to glance at him, eyes suddenly widening. “What happened to your _eye?_ ” 

Mike winced, having momentarily forgotten about it. He hadn’t even looked in the mirror as he’d gotten ready that morning. He had no idea if it looked worse or better today. He was leaning toward worse. “Got into a fight with Troy and James.” 

_”What?_ Jesus, Mike, are you okay?” 

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Uh. It...sorta wasn’t just me.” He blew out a breath. “Lucas and Dustin and I all have detention after school all next week.” 

“What happened? They just jumped you guys?” He could tell by the look on her face that she already had other suspicions. 

“Yeah, basically. You know how they are. They’re assholes. But Dustin pummeled James, and Troy’s not looking much better. I don’t think they’re going to bother us again.” He gave her a tiny smile, meeting her eyes. 

Her gaze was troubled. “Are Lucas and Dustin okay?” 

“Lucas has a split lip. Dustin’s knuckles were pretty bruised, but that was the worst of it. We’re all okay, I promise,” Mike assured her. “But that’s why they weren’t here last night. They’re not grounded or anything, though, so that’s good. We talked on the radios.” 

“What about Will?” she asked, still worried. 

“Oh, he wasn’t there when it happened. So he’s fine.” Thankfully. Will was still smaller than the rest of them, and probably the biggest pacifist of them all. He wasn’t even sure Will would have tried fighting back. He was glad he hadn’t been around at the time. 

That seemed to help her relax a little and he almost smiled. Max was almost as protective of Will as she was of Lucas. 

“Are you going to get in trouble for missing school?” 

Mike shrugged. “Won’t be the first time. And I don’t have any finals today anyway. I’m not worried about it.” 

Max nodded, and then dropped her gaze to the blanket once more. 

He held his breath for a few seconds and then leaned forward. “Max.” His voice dropped. “Listen, I overheard something yesterday that I don’t think I was supposed to hear, but I did, and I thought you should know.” 

At that, she turned her head slowly to look at him. He couldn’t read her expression as easily this time. It was something between wariness and suspicion, he thought. “What did you hear?” 

“That Billy’s been hurting you,” he admitted in a whisper. 

All the color drained from her face and she quickly looked toward the door and when she saw no one was there, she shifted so she could see him better, her eyes wide with fear. “Mike, did you tell anyone else what you heard?” 

“No, but --” 

“You can’t tell _anyone_ ,” she said, the urgency in her voice catching him off guard. 

“But if the police know --” 

“They already have evidence against him for murder,” she whispered. “The rest is no one else’s business but mine.” 

Mike held her gaze, holding his breath at the sight of her eyes beginning to tear up. 

“Mike, _promise_ me you won’t tell the others. You have to promise me.” 

“I don’t understand,” he whispered, shaking his head. “Max, this isn’t your fault. I mean, you know that, right? They wouldn’t blame you or --” 

“It isn’t _about_ that,” she snapped. “There’s no reason they need to know about any of it. Okay? Everyone has their own shit to deal with. They don’t need to deal with mine, too.” 

“But...that’s what friends do. We help each other with all of our shit. It’s how we get through bad things,” he said earnestly. “It’s how Will got through the stuff from the Upside Down, and Dustin got through his dad leaving, and how I’m getting through my parents splitting up and -- “ 

“ _Mike._ ” There was a hint of desperation in her voice now and she swiped hastily at the tears that were now streaming down her pale cheeks. “This isn’t like any of that. It just isn’t. I know you want to help, but you can’t. There’s nothing you can do. I have to do this on my own. In my own way. Okay? _Please._ Promise you won’t say anything to them. Just -- just forget that you overheard it at all. Please, Mike.” 

He swallowed heavily, tears pricking at his own eyes. He’d never seen this side of Max before and it hurt his heart to see someone who was usually so bold and fearless looking and sounding as vulnerable as she did right then. “Okay,” he whispered finally. “Okay, I promise.” 

***

Steve felt like he was running on empty as he made his way back into the hospital early that morning. He raked a hand through his hair, sighing when he realized how flat it had fallen over the last few hours. Even though Max’s dad had gotten in the previous evening and he’d planned to go home and get some sleep, things hadn’t gone as planned -- as per usual in Hawkins. 

He paused at the waiting room, spotting Kali curled up in one of the chairs and he sighed softly. He made his way down to the cafeteria, ordered two cups of coffee and made his way back to her, sitting down in the chair beside her and nudging her gently with his elbow. 

She jerked slightly, lifting her head and glaring momentarily until she saw him. Or more accurately, until she saw the coffee. He handed it to her and took a drink of his own. “Long night?” 

She took a drink of her coffee, as well, eying him warily. “Hospitals aren’t my favorite place.” 

He grimaced. “Right. Understandable.” 

Kali shifted in the chair, stretching her legs out in front of her. “You look like shit.” 

“Thanks. You definitely know how to stroke a guy’s ego,” he responded. 

Smirking, she gave him a knowing look. “It’s my lot in life to stroke random men’s...egos.” 

Heat made his cheeks flush. “Uh. Right. Yeah, that’s --” 

An amused chuckle escaped her. “The policeman _blushes_.” 

“The policeman hasn’t had enough sleep in days,” he grumbled, embarrassed. He rubbed his hand over his face and took another sip of coffee. 

“Seems like there’s a lot going on in this town.”

“Always.” He paused. “No. Actually up until the past week, it’s been pretty quiet for almost a full year, so I guess I shouldn’t really complain.” Except that everything that happened this week directly impacted people he cared about. And people he used to care about. “It seems to get a little hairy around the full moon. Last night I was actually going to go home and sleep and then I got called in to be backup to help break up a bar brawl that broke out with a motorcycle gang who was passing through. Wound up hauling almost 12 guys down to lockup and then having to do a shit ton of paperwork. Not my idea of a great time.” 

She watched him, listening intently as she sipped her coffee. “And you’re back before visiting hours officially begin,” she commented. 

Steve was silent for a moment. “Max is like the little sister I never had,” he said, voice growing more quiet. “I probably wouldn’t have slept even if I’d gone home.” 

“My sister tells me you’re like a big brother to all of them,” Kali stated, arching her eyebrows. 

“Yeah. Guess when you face down monsters from another dimension together it forms some lasting bonds,” he said wryly. He looked down at his coffee cup, exhaling slowly and then letting his eyes close for a moment. “I don’t know how to help her. It’s not like a nail bat’s very helpful in this situation.” 

“A nail bat?” she echoed, looking bemused. 

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s -- literally just a wooden bat full of nails. The demodogs hated it. Uh, that’s what the kids named them. The baby monsters from the Upside Down.” 

“I see.” Her lips twitched upwards momentarily and then she grew serious once more, looking thoughtful. “You called her father. You’ve been with her a lot since she was admitted. Sometimes all you can do is be there. Unless of course you want to make sure her stepbrother is permanently taken care of.” 

Steve slowly lifted his gaze to look at her. “I can’t pretend the thought never crossed my mind.” He took a drink. “Hell, I even mentioned it to Hopper.” 

“And?” Kali cocked her head, waiting. 

“He hates Billy, but we’re law enforcement officers and apparently murder is considered bad even under these circumstances.” He grimaced. 

She hummed, looking down at her own cup of coffee. 

Steve sighed and reluctantly stood up. “I should go check on her, see how she’s doing. See if she and her dad need anything.”  
She nodded. “Thank you for the coffee.” 

“Thanks for hanging out with Max when no one else could,” he said quietly, even though he knew she’d probably done it mostly because El had asked. 

“You’re welcome.” Kali gave him a tiny smile and he nodded at her before heading away. 

***

Lucas hated rumors. 

Over the last week and a half so many had flown around the school about Max, about Tommy, and now of course, there was one floating around that Max had not only slept with the guy, but that she’d gotten so pissed about Tommy telling people that she’d killed him. By the time lunch rolled around he was frustrated and tempted to skip, but he was already in trouble for getting into a fight -- at least at school. 

His mom hadn’t been happy with him, but his dad had been understanding. He hadn’t said much about why the fight had broken out, but his dad had never been the type to press for a lot of details about things, thankfully. He wasn’t grounded, miraculously. His parents had heard the names Troy and James often enough over the years that they were aware that even he had his limits and he’d been pushed too far this time. They just had no idea that the trigger was Max. 

Grabbing his tray, he made his way to the usual table and glanced around when he spotted Dustin and El but not Mike or Will. He sat down beside El and picked up his milk carton. “Where are Mike and Will?” 

“Will said Mike left a note on the table this morning that he was going to spend the day at the hospital with Max,” Dustin told them. The fact that El didn’t seem bothered about that made a small smile tug at Lucas’ mouth. 

“Will,” Eleven said, nodding toward the front of the line. He made his way toward them and sat down beside Dustin, looking upset. 

“What’s wrong?” Dustin asked before Lucas had a chance. 

Will just shook his head wordlessly, dropping his gaze to his own tray and Lucas exhaled, shoulders drooping because he was pretty sure all of them had heard the rumors by now, and Will was more sensitive than most of them were. On top of that, Will was close to Max, too, even if it was in a different way than Lucas was close to her. 

They sat in relative silence, eating their lunches and being lost in their own thoughts until a few minutes before the bell was due to ring. 

A quiet voice came from behind him. “Lucas?” 

He turned, glancing over his shoulder to see Marie standing there, worry in her blue eyes. “Hey, Marie. What’s up?” 

“I heard about Max. I mean, about the accident with her and her brother,” she clarified quickly, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. “Is she okay?” 

“She’s fine,” El answered immediately.

Lucas glanced over at El, not missing her sharp tone and the way her eyes were narrowed with suspicion. Like Marie had some kind of ulterior motive. He had a feeling he’d better intervene quickly or something bad may end up happening. He glanced at Marie again, noting the confused look on her face. “She’s pretty banged up, but she’s gonna be okay. They may release her today, actually.” 

Marie noodded, offering him a tiny smile. “I’m glad. It sounded like it was serious.” 

“It was,” Dustin said, setting his fork down on the table. 

“She’s strong. She’ll be fine,” El added, eyes still dark and narrowed. 

“Of course,” Marie said quickly, nodding and then glancing at Lucas once more. “I just wanted to check and see. Tell her I said hi? I’m gonna get to class.” 

“I will,” Lucas assured her, watching her head away and then looking at Eleven with arched eyebrows. 

“I don’t like her,” she said before he could even ask. 

Lucas and Dustin exchanged a knowing look, and then he shifted his gaze to Will, who was looking back at him. 

“She likes you,” he said simply. 

He made a face, then shook his head, remembering how Max had said the same thing not that long ago. He’d known Marie for years. She didn’t like him that way, she was just a nice girl. But he had a feeling trying to convince Will and apparently Eleven about that was an effort in futility, so he just sighed and left it alone. 

He had more important things to worry about. 

Like how he was going to convince himself to get through til the end of the day without taking off to go to the hospital. 

***

Max sat on the edge of her hospital bed, Mike beside her as they waited on her dad to come back with discharge papers. Her shoulders were tense, but she didn’t fidget as they waited. She knew Mike would keep his promise, because she knew what a promise meant to Mike, but she still hated that he knew at all. She hated that _anyone_ knew what Billy had done to her, that they would just see her as a victim from now on, and treat her like some fragile, delicate flower. 

The thoughts weighed heavily on her and she didn’t even realize Mike was talking to her until he nudged her with his elbow. She blinked a couple of times and turned her head toward him, wary. “Sorry. What?” 

“I asked if you were looking forward to getting out of here,” he said, dark eyes searching hers like he was trying to make sure she was okay. 

“Duh. Hospitals are terrible,” she answered, relaxing when the corners of his mouth turned up. She shrugged a shoulder and glanced down at the floor. “I don’t really know where we’re going,” she admitted after a moment. 

“I know the answer.” 

They both looked toward the door to see Kali standing there with a small smile, pushing a wheelchair. “Deputy Harrington’s place is your next destination.” 

Max tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “My dad’s okay with that?” 

“Mmhmm. He’s out pulling up his rental car. Discharge papers have been signed. Let’s get you out of here.” Kali winked at her. 

Max smiled involuntarily and carefully slid off the edge of the bed, wincing and ignoring the concerned look that Mike gave her as he rose to his feet. She moved over and sat down in the wheelchair. “Race down the hall?” she joked, and Kali chuckled. 

“Probably not the best idea.” 

She leaned against the back of the chair as the older girl wheeled her in a circle and pushed her out the door and into the hallway, all three of them freezing in place at the sight approaching. 

Billy, being escorted down the corridor by Hopper and another officer she didn’t know well enough to recall his name. Her stepbrother was glaring, his blue eyes dark with anger. They narrowed the second he saw her. All the air left her lungs, her veins turning to ice even as she saw Hopper tighten his hand around Billy’s uninjured arm to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid like lunge at her. 

“I’ll see you soon, Maxie,” he said, staring intently at her even as he paused in his tracks. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.” 

“Shut your mouth,” Hopper snapped. “I will _taze_ your ass.” He gave Max an apologetic look even as he shoved Billy forward to get him to start walking again. 

Her heart beat heavily in her chest, hands gripping so tightly onto the arms of the wheelchair that her knuckles went white. 

“Don’t you ever talk to her again, you piece of _shit!_ ” Mike snapped, taking a step forward like he was going after them and her right hand shot out, grabbing onto his and holding it tightly. 

“Don’t,” she whispered, face drained of all color. 

Mike turned to look down at her and she looked up at him, watching his expression soften in a way she’d only ever seen directed toward the others but never her. Her chest tightened and she bit down hard on her lower lip before letting go of him. 

“Let’s get out of here,” Mike murmured, glancing at Kali, who nodded and wheeled her toward the elevator, Billy’s angry warning ringing in her ears. 

It wasn’t over. 

It would never be over, she realized. 

***

It was weird being in Steve’s apartment without Steve. The thought was idle as Will sat curled up on the floor by Max’s feet, his back leaned against the bottom of the sofa. Every so often he’d glance up at her to make sure she was okay. She wasn’t. Car crash aside, Will _knew_ there was more going on than they were aware of, but he didn’t know what it was. He also wasn’t the kind of person to push if someone didn’t want to talk. Max was one of his closest friends and he hoped she’d open up to him when she was ready. For now, though, she just sat there, pretending to pay attention to the movie on TV. 

He and Lucas had stopped by the new video store that had opened at the mall recently, _Blockbuster Video_ , and rented a couple of the redhead’s favorite movies. Currently Poltergeist was playing and while he wasn’t into scary movies the way Max and Dustin were, he put up with them for the sake of his friends. 

He could tell by the way she was chewing on her thumbnail that her mind wasn’t on the film, the faraway look in her eyes easy for him to pick up on considering how much time he’d spent pretending to be okay over the last couple years when in reality there were times he’d barely been holding on. He glanced at Lucas and found his friend watching Max, too, and he cleared his throat before rising to his feet. “Maybe we can pause it and make popcorn?” he suggested. 

“And M&Ms,” El added, sitting forward and picking up the remote, pausing the movie. 

“Does Steve have M&Ms?” Mike asked, frowning a little. 

“Top cabinet. Behind the bowls,” she responded, standing up and heading toward the kitchen. 

“How often do you all come here?” Kali questioned, looking bemused as she stood and followed, too. 

“A lot,” Dustin told her with a grin. “Some of us more than others.” He shrugged. 

Will shifted his attention back to Max, who hadn’t even seemed to notice that the movie had been put on pause and he bit his lip, shooting Lucas a worried look. 

“Max?” Lucas’ voice was quiet, almost hesitant. 

She turned her head to look at him. “Yeah?” She glanced at Will and then back at Lucas. “What’s up?” 

“El and Mike went to raid the cabinets for popcorn and M&Ms,” he said, searching her eyes. 

Will nudged Dustin’s ankle subtly and nodded toward the kitchen ever-so-slightly. It took him a second, but then Dustin caught on. “Oh. Right. We should help them. I bet we can find some other junk, too,” he said with forced enthusiasm as he headed toward the kitchen. 

Will nodded slightly at Lucas before turning and following. Maybe Lucas could get her to talk. He hoped so. 

***

Lucas gazed at her with worried eyes. “Are you all right?” he asked quietly as the others filtered out of the room with less subtlety than they probably thought they’d used. Then again, Max seemed to be too distracted to really notice. 

She gave him a smile that was far from being genuine, a more guarded, forced expression than he’d seen from her in a long time and it made his chest tighten. “I’m okay. Just thinking, I guess,” she answered. 

“About what?” he asked, reaching out and linking his fingers with hers. 

“What happens next.” Her voice was quiet and she looked down at their hands. 

Lucas paused at that, shifting slightly so that his body was angled toward her. “You mean with Billy? And your stepdad?” He watched her expression shift, tried to read the emotions that flickered across her face. 

“And my mom. And my dad. And...everything, I guess.” 

He nodded, squeezing her hand gently. “We’ll figure it out, Max. Maybe not tonight and maybe not even tomorrow, but we will. It’ll be okay, one way or the other.” 

Her gaze didn’t lift and worry made something in his stomach tighten. “Yeah, I guess.” 

“Hey.” He reached out, cupping her cheek in his hand and gently tilting her chin up to look at him. “It’s going to be _okay_.” 

She tried to smile but didn’t quite manage it this time. “Okay,” she whispered. 

Lucas’ thumb gently brushed her cheek and she finally met his eyes and he held his breath at the intensity of emotion he saw there. “Max?” 

Wordlessly she leaned in, pressing a kiss against his mouth, both of their eyes drifting shut. He returned the kiss, slowly deepening it until he needed to catch his breath again, leaning his forehead against hers. She shifted until she was leaning against him, her head resting against his shoulder, arm wound around his torso. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, carefully wrapping his arms around her in return.

“Is this comfortable?” he asked hesitantly, not wanting to hurt her already broken ribs. 

“Yes,” she whispered, tucking her head beneath his chin. He leaned his head against hers, exhaling slowly as she curled up with him, falling asleep within moments. He glanced at his friends as they filtered back into the room, signaling them to be quiet. He met Will’s gaze and gave him a grateful nod as the other boy smiled faintly and returned to his spot on the floor. 

They resumed the movie despite Max being asleep, but this time it was Lucas who couldn’t seem to focus. He’d told her it was going to be okay, but some part of him couldn’t help wondering if he’d uttered a lie. Because truthfully, Lucas wasn’t sure the whole thing was going to turn out okay at all. 

***

“Quiet _down_ in there!” Rogers shouted in annoyance from the desk outside the room of holding cells. 

“We got rights, you know!” someone shouted back. 

He rubbed a hand over his forehead, glancing up as he saw Steve approaching. “Tell me you’re here to relieve me,” he grumbled. 

Steve gave him a wry smile. “Not by choice, but yes,” he responded. “Go take your dinner break. I’m off when you’re done.” 

Rogers sighed, standing up and leaving all his paperwork spread out on the desk, clearly eager to get away. “Thank God. They won’t shut up.” 

“Blame the full moon,” Steve responded with a shrug. 

“I hate full moon weeks,” he mumbled as he headed out, leaving Steve alone at the desk. He watched Rogers go, glancing down at the processing paperwork that the other deputy had been working on, even if he wasn’t very far into it. He made a face. He hated paperwork almost as much as he’d hated writing essays in high school. He rolled his eyes when someone in a holding cell started yelling something about wanting water. 

“This isn’t a restaurant,” he muttered, even as he went to the bathroom, grabbing a paper cup and filling it with water before heading into the corridor. “You ordered a water?” His voice was full of sarcasm. 

“Shit, you should’ve ordered a beer, Rob,” one of the guys said, leaning back against the wall. 

“Alas, the tap ran dry with the last group of prisoners,” Steve retorted, passing the cup of water to the older man who’d requested it. 

“So basically you’re a glorified waiter with a badge?” 

Steve’s entire body tensed at the sound of Billy’s voice and he turned to see him leaned against the front of the cell, smirking. “Shut your mouth.” 

“Afraid you’re just not that intimidating, Harrington,” he said with a shrug. “Bring me my cigarettes.” 

“Eat shit and die.” 

Billy chuckled. “Such language. Does my sister know what a potty mouth you are?” 

Instantly, Steve moved over to stand in front of him, glaring, eyes darker than usual. “Shut your mouth or I’ll shut it for you,” he warned. 

“Surely the great King Steve isn’t threatening to engage in an act of police brutality,” he mocked. 

His jaw tightened and he shook his head, turning to walk away. “You’re not even worth it.” 

“When I get out of here - and I _will_ get out, I’m gonna track her down. You know that, right? There won’t be any place she’ll be able to hide that I won’t find her. And you can’t be with her 24/7.” 

Steve stared at the wall ahead of him, then reached into his pocket, pulling out the keys to the jail cell, and moving back to where Billy’s cell was. He didn’t acknowledge the other boy’s amused look as he unlocked the door and yanked it open, stepping inside and ignoring the sudden hoots and hollers from the biker gang across the hall. “Get out,” he ordered, pointing at Billy. 

“This some kind of trick?” Billy arched his eyebrows, not moving from where he was standing. 

Steve stepped farther into the cell, reaching out and grabbing hold of Billy’s uninjured arm. “We’re going for a walk.” 

The blonde chuckled at that, moving and stepping outside of the cell. “I hate to break it to you, but you aren’t my type.” 

Wordlessly, he grabbed Billy’s arm once more and yanked him toward the cell of bikers, unlocking it. “Get in.” 

“No.” 

Steve narrowed his eyes, then grabbed a hold of the taller boy, shoving him toward the cell and watching with satisfaction as he stumbled a little before regaining his footing. He slammed the cell door shut and turned the key in the lock, meeting Billy’s eyes momentarily and desiring nothing more than to wipe the smug smirk off his face. 

“Hey guys,” he said, not taking his eyes off Billy even as the other prisoners glanced at him curiously. He gave Billy a dark smile, pocketing the jail cell keys once more. “Child molester.” 

The air shifted, instantly filled with tension and Billy’s eyes grew wide in disbelief as Steve headed for the door and the other men circled around the blonde teenager. He stepped out of the corridor and into the office area, pulling the door shut behind him and ignoring the muffled sounds of Billy’s shouts as fists and feet connected with flesh.


End file.
